THE old CDMA mobile phone network will definitely close at the end of this month.
Telstra Countrywide managing director Geoff Booth has confirmed they will definitely shut the old CDMA mobile phone network on April 28.
“It will close a chapter in Australia’s mobile telecommunications history and cement a new era that, for the first time, gives rural and regional Australians access to the same world-leading services that are available to people in major metropolitan centres like Sydney and Melbourne,” Mr Booth said.
But Federal Member for Forrest Nola Marino said she was still receiving complaints from people in her electorate – particularly Donnybrook, Balingup, Nannup and Bridgetown – and has called on Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy, to show the evidence that Telstra has met its contract requirements.
She said it was apparent that Telstra had gone to some length to assist its customers in relation to transition, but in the absence of any supporting material being released from the Minister, regional consumers would be left to take the Minister at his word that Next G now provided at least equivalent coverage and service to CDMA.
“Cold hard facts would be more reassuring than the Minister’s word,” Ms Marino said.
Mr Conroy confirmed that Telstra had met its obligations and corrected the problems that caused the previous planned closure to be postponed until now. In a statement released last Tuesday, he announced that Telstra has met the requirements to allow the closure of its CDMA network.
“I am satisfied that Telstra has met the equivalence tests in its licence condition and has sufficiently rectified the problems I identified in January, including handheld handset coverage, customer information provision and the availability of equipment and services,” he said.
Mr Conroy said Telstra had committed to continue to resolve customers’ issues through its dedicated freecall hotline and handset replacement program for people experiencing Next G coverage difficulties until July 1.
“Before these programs cease, Telstra will report to me so I can assess whether the level of demand warrants an extension of the programs,” he said.
Ms Marino said that, in her opinion, Telstra still had a lot of work to do to bring the Next G network up to being equivalent to the CDMA network.
She said that Mr Conroy should keep the pressure on Telstra to deliver on its promise not to shut down the CDMA network until the Next G network was equivalent to or better than the CDMA network.
Ms Marino wanted reassurance that the mobile phone needs of rural and regional Australia would not be sidelined once the shut down of the CDMA network happened on April 28. She said customer complaints had centred around continued patchy coverage and continual line drop-outs.
Ms Marino said there was concern that in some instances technicians simply could not identify a Next G handset capable of providing equivalent coverage to CDMA. Mr Conroy said the hotline was established to assist customers not receiving equivalent handheld coverage and as a result, Telstra had reported that thousands of those customers had received free handset upgrades or other equipment and assistance.
Telstra has also worked with customers using CDMA for remote data monitoring through telemetry systems, and with customers who have their home phone services provided by CDMA technology, so equipment is available to ensure equivalent service.
Mr Conroy said Telstra would now SMS remaining CDMA customers to inform them of the switch off.
The company will also send two further SMS messages to the customers seven days and 24 hours before the switch off, as well as personally writing to all the remaining CDMA customers.
Ms Marino is urging all South West residents who have an unresolved issue to contact Telstra’s free hotline on 1800 888 888, and if the issue remains unresolved, the Federal Communications Department should be contacted on 1800 883 448.