Telstra plea to reduce internet use

Telstra has called on Australians to moderate their use of the internet as pressure mounts on the country's telco infrastructure.

Telstra chief executive Andy Penn has called on Australians to be more mindful of how they use the internet as pressure mounts on the country's telecommunications infrastructure.

Speaking exclusively to The Australian, Mr Penn said that just as panicked shoppers had to monitor their behaviour, internet users should take steps to lessen their impact on the internet.

“This is an unprecedented situation that we’re all going through. and it’s going to require all of us to make some changes, adapt our behaviour and make a contribution to getting through this, as successfully as we possibly can,” he said.

“What would be helpful is as users, we can actually find ways to actually help.”

Likening Telstra’s telecommunications network to a road, Mr Penn said that the networks were built to be able to handle peak capacity, but not more than that.

“With the NBN home network, the peak capacity time is about 9pm in the evening, therefore spreading out the usage during the day is helpful. And be thoughtful about what you’re using the network for. If you’re streaming, maybe you can download the movie overnight rather than streaming it in a peak period.”

Mr Penn confirmed news previously first reported by The Australian that Telstra had been in talks with streaming companies including Netflix and Stan as well as gaming companies to ask them to reduce their demands on Telstra’s network by reducing streaming quality.

“It’s what they call smoothing, which is stuff that takes up bandwidth, which, quite frankly, right now is a nice to have and is not the highest order priority.”