{"id":186395,"date":"2017-08-08T23:27:01","date_gmt":"2017-08-08T13:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=186395"},"modified":"2020-09-28T12:55:53","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T02:55:53","slug":"mp-slams-optus-telstra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2017\/08\/08\/mp-slams-optus-telstra\/","title":{"rendered":"MP Slams Optus, Telstra"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Member for Maranoa David Littleproud<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

August 8, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

Member for Maranoa David Littleproud has slammed Optus, labelling as “a smokescreen” its $1 billion promise to improve mobile phone coverage in the bush.<\/p>\n

\u201cOptus announced it will spend $1 billion and build 500 new towers in rural and remote parts of Australia \u2013 this amount is a smokescreen because out of these \u2018new towers\u2019, 114 are co-funded by the Federal Government\u2019s Mobile Phone Black Spot Program,\u201d Mr Littleproud said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf the remaining 386 towers, only one tower at Kingaroy will be funded by Optus in my electorate (which covers) more than 42 per cent of rural Queensland, so these claims are a total stretch.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to Optus\u2019s list, Maroochydore, Toowoomba and Highfields are considered rural and remote Australia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“This is all about picking commercial winners and not about investment to increase coverage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Littleproud said reshaping the Universal Service Obligation (USO) – \u00a0the\u00a0obligation\u00a0placed on\u00a0service\u00a0providers to ensure that telephone\u00a0services\u00a0are reasonably accessible to all people in Australia on an equitable basis, wherever they reside or carry on business – would provide a\u00a0better service in rural areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to not only achieve the right technology mix to guarantee better mobile and phone services across rural and remote Australia, but also provide a long-awaited kick-start to domestic mobile roaming opportunities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the USO, almost $300 million is provided each year for landlines, including $40 million for payphone services.\u00a0 In regions with no mobile phone coverage, landline connections must be protected but the local payphone box is now a service that\u2019s basically obsolete.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I believe we should look towards a pragmatic and sensible review of USO funding to include baseline mobile service and landline obligations to rural Australians.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that any future USO funding should be spent on either building new towers or upgrading existing mobile phone towers to provide seamless mobile phone coverage across Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cMandating roaming would also demand greater contributions to the USO fund from other telcos to contribute to the continual expansion and upgrade of mobile services while providing telco provider competition, finally giving rural Australian a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0In a 20-year agreement between the Federal Government and Telstra \u2013 with a value of about $3 billion until 2032 \u2013 the USO requires\u00a0every Australian to have access to telephone services, both fixed line and pay phone.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lack in transparency as Telstra\u2019s used this long-standing agreement with the government to treat every fixed-line customer as a USO connection \u2013 even when the connection is commercially viable, regardless of whether it was in Brisbane or Birdsville,\u201d Mr Littleproud said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTelstra\u2019s recently taken out full-page ads in my local media, spruiking its so-called \u2018rural investment\u2019 but those who I speak to on the street say they see through the flash marketing campaign because it isn\u2019t being felt on the ground with better mobile phone coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this expensive marketing campaign, Telstra said it will invest $350 million over the next three to five years but has failed to provide any specific information on where this investment will be made.<\/p>\n

“My office is also inundated with Telstra coverage complaints, and these are just claims by Telstra in an attempt to placate bush customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, Telstra and Optus are just updating their existing footprint, rather than increasing coverage in areas with no service.<\/p>\n

“Telstra has already said it won\u2019t invest in areas with no coverage unless it receives funding under the Federal Government\u2019s Mobile Phone Black Spot Program.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Productivity Commission has already said, in its draft report, there\u2019s a strong case to review the USO obligations, including the lack of transparency or accountability from Telstra in the way it’s using that money.<\/p>\n

“I see this as an opportunity to open up the market place for consumers \u2013 particularly regional, rural and remote customers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Member for Maranoa David Littleproud has slammed Optus, labelling as “a smokescreen” its $1 billion promise to improve mobile phone coverage in the bush.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":276803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMP Slams Optus, Telstra<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Member for Maranoa David Littleproud has slammed Optus, labelling as "a smokescreen" its $1 billion promise to improve mobile phone coverage in the bush.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2017\/08\/08\/mp-slams-optus-telstra\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MP Slams Optus, Telstra\" 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