ACCC executes perfect hit on Telstra, Optus and Vodafone
After months of secret negotiations, Telstra, Optus & Voda have rolled over and ‘offered’ ACCC a court enforceable undertaking … equivalent to court injunctions … to stamp out false advertising in the broadband and telephony industry.
When legal advisers warn second and third tier telcos and ISPs about advertising content, the single most common retort is ‘Telstra gets away with it’ and ‘We saw an Optus ad like that’ and ‘But Voda says the same thing’.
It’s a pretty good argument. If the giants can do it, why can’t we ?
No mistake, this is the biggest telco-truth-in-advertising hit ever landed by the national regulator. Like all good commando raids, it seemed to come from nowhere. Only yesterday morning did rumours start to circulate that ‘something big’ was coming out of Canberra in the next 24 hours.
If Tiers 2, 3 & 4 don’t get their act together now, they can’t complain they’re being picked on. And ACCC has made sure that Telstra, Optus & Voda are motivated to keep their networks honest.
Telstra fined for Do Not Call breaches
Telstra has paid a $101,200 infringement notice for telemarketing to numbers on the Do Not Call Register more than 30 days after they were registered.
ACMA announced its biggest scalp yet under the new law, following an investigation into calls made by an offshore call centre on behalf of Telstra. Inexplicably, Telstra allowed illegal calls to continue after ACMA had raised concerns based on several complaints.
“The investigation found that inadequate compliance systems, procedures and supervision had contributed to calls being made to numbers on the Register where the consumers were not existing Telstra customers.”
Telstra may be the biggest Do Not Call catch so far for ACMA, but it’s not the record penalty payer. That ‘honour’ belongs to Dodo at $147,400.
ACCC calls Telstra a liar over ‘full’ exchanges
ACCC today filed an application in the Federal Court for orders against Telstra, claiming it has wrongfully denied competitors access to parts of its network.
According to ACCC, Telstra told other ISPs that it was all out of MDF capacity in seven key city exchanges. So sorry, but you just can’t interconnect here. Says ACCC: That was untrue, and you’ve breached section 52 of the Trade Practices Act by engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct.
ACCC also says Telstra has breached its licence terms and its ‘standard access obligations’. The regulator wants financial penalties, declarations of wrongdoing and court injunctions.
Another amigo says adios to Telstra
Telstra COO Greg Winn, one of Sol Trujillo’s famous amigos, is hitting the trail and heading back to Arizona.
The departure was announced on Telstra’s corporate website this morning and follows the repatriation of fellow amigo and former Telstra public relations chief Phil Burgess, for personal reasons, last August.
Widely respected for steering the business through important IT transformations, Winn is one of the few Telstra execs on mega-salaries who may prove worth it in the long run.
Interestingly, he won’t be replaced:
Mr Winn’s position as COO will not be filled. Instead, most of his direct reports will report to Mr Trujillo.
While many are commenting that it’s odd for the post not to be re-filled, we think the reason is obvious. It would probably take several months for Trujillo to locate and lock in his perfect replacement. And if Trujillo himself wasn’t to remain at Telstra for many more months, would his successor be all that pleased to inherit the last amigo’s idea of the perfect COO ?
Telstra predicts monopoly in the skies
ACMA today amended the Mobile Phone Jammer Prohibition in a step towards in-flight mobile phone services in Australian airspace.
The Prohibition basically outlaws selling, using or possessing mobile phone jamming equipment. Today’s amendment creates an exception for devices that will lock mobiles on aircraft out of the standard GSM range and force them to use a transmission relay service installed in the plane.
Telstra agrees that in-flight calls would be a good thing, but reckons the new law does little but create a service monopoly for the operators of Cellular RF Management Units (CRFMUs) that force handsets to roam onto mini-mobile phone cells in the skies, and risks waves of call drop outs on the ground as aircraft fly over terrestrial GSM towers.
ACCC scores LSS win over Telstra
The Federal Court has backed the ACCC’s processes for determining fair competitor access pricing for Telstra’s Line Sharing Service (‘LSS’).
After getting answers it didn’t like from the ACCC’s access dispute arbitration process, Telstra attacked the process itself.
ACCC Chairman Graeme Samuel said: ‘The ACCC has always taken a thorough, robust and transparent approach to disputes brought before it. These decisions have now been subjected to detailed scrutiny on multiple grounds of review, and the Federal Court has found that they have passed muster on all but one small point.’
It’s good news for CSPs that want access to the LSS.
Phil Burgess exits Telstra
Phil Burgess, one of Sol Trujillo’s famous ‘amigos’ has announced his return to the States at the end of August 2008.
In three years as Telstra’s main spokesperson, Burgess won respect for his fierce prosecution of Telstra’s positions. He also drove us to distraction with his one-sided rhetoric.
Here’s a report from my ‘Hands On’ AFR column on one of Burgess’ classic efforts in March 2007.
When is a cap not a cap ? When it’s really a floor.
I’ve been around the industry a long time now, and seen plenty of times its regulation is unreasonable and illogical. But I side with the consumer on the use of the word ‘cap’ to mean ‘minimum charge’.
Here’s an article I wrote about it recently in my weekly Hands On column in the Australian Financial Review.
“We seldom use this column to advertise legal services, but duty demands that we don’t hide this offer under a bushel. We’ll service any telco’s legal needs for an amazing $100 a month on our amazing Hands On $100 Legal Fees Cap Plan. We’ll do it for Telstra. We’ll do it for Optus. We’ll do it for Vodafone. We’ll do it for anyone. Your monthly $100 spend gets you an amazing $50,000 in included services. Just amazing.”