By ERWIN CHLANDA
“Mobile phone connectivity is not included in Telstra’s Universal Service Obligation. That relates solely to landline services and payphones,” Telstra told us when we asked.
So what? Well, here is the deal.
Universal Service Obligation (USO) is best illustrated by a story involving Molly Clarke (at left), a feisty elderly lady who lived at the western edge of the Simpson Desert, south of Alice Springs, in the Old Andado homestead. It is 525, 344 or 440 km from town, depending on which way you travel.
The first few times I called in, always by light aircraft, her only telephone had a handle which you had to crank. If it got through to someone at the other end you hoped you could hear what they were saying.
However, under the Federally mandated USO Molly had a right to get a telephone landline no better and no worse than anyone else in this egalitarian nation.
It cost Telstra a motza, of course, but Molly got her tower.
That wasn’t the end of the story. At one time Telstra’s monthly bill was $17.30 (if I remember correctly) in excess of what Molly had expected. Telstra wouldn’t budge, neither would Molly. She told Telstra that they can take their tower back.
However, it’s still there today (photo at right).
Cut to 2024. Landline phones are rapidly disappearing. More and more people are using mobiles.
But the Federal Department of Communications still tells us this on their website: “The USO is a long-standing consumer protection that ensures everyone has access to landline telephones and payphones regardless of where they live or work.
“Telstra is responsible for delivering the USO, and must provide standard telephone services (STS) on request to every premises in Australia within reasonable timeframes. This is both a legislative and contractual obligation.”
What about applying USO to mobiles?
“The Australian Government is currently examining universal telecommunications service arrangements in light of changes in available technologies and consumer preferences over recent years.”
Until that is sorted out – if it ever will be – this is happening: First, as the public switch to mobiles continues, Telstra’s financial obligations under the USO are diminishing. The shareholders are smiling.
And no matter how lousy the mobile service is, they will charge you the same, be it one bar or five bars, and no matter how overloaded the Personal Hotspot may be which most people use a stand-by way for getting online when NBN lets them down.
When asked Telstra told us: “The plan amount paid by customers for a Telstra mobile service across Australia is the same and they are all month-to-month plans, so you can change or leave when you need to. We do not charge different rates based on where people live or the cost on delivering services to those areas.”
In other words, if you don’t like it, too bad. Just move to where we provide a decent service.
“Mobile coverage can never be guaranteed all of the time and we encourage people to have multiple forms of connectivity available where possible such as landlines and for internet, the NBN or Starlink.”
Telstra nor sells Elon Musk’s Starlink service, so buying it do fill the gaps of a poor mobile service would turn out to be a nice little earner.
PHOTO at top: Molly Clarke’s iconic house at the edge of the Simpson Desert makes it mark in Australia’s telecommunications history.
Clearly you didn’t do your research but here you go. Optus and Telstra will use SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation to deliver mobile connectivity to the whole of Australia – including 60% of the landmass which currently has no signal.
The pair will roll out SMS in late 2024, followed by voice and data to follow in late 2025, all based on the SpaceX satellites.
ED –We did research and received answers from Telstra media. Your assertions were not included. We are publishing them as your opinion as you don’t provide any sources.
It is a very simple google search. Telstra even state it themselves so clearly you did not ask the right question and now you need to re write the article because it looks like you just have a hate for Telstra now.
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/optus-signs-direct-to-cell-satellite-deal-with-spacexs-starlink/#:~:text=Optus%20will%20use%20SpaceX's%20Starlink,which%20currently%20has%20no%20signal.&text=The%20pair%20will%20roll%20out,based%20on%20the%20SpaceX%20satellites.%20.
https://www.telstra.com.au/aboutus/media/media-releases/Telstra-announces-agreement-with-Starlink#:~:text=Telstra%20today%20announced%20it%20had,remote%20Telstra%20customers%20in%20Australia.
ED – Our report was about Telstra’s Universal Service Obligation. We asked them questions and they gave us answers. We reported them. The story was not about Telstra’s objectives in the future. If they had considered those to be relevant to our specific enquiries then they were at liberty to say so. They didn’t.
I also note that you don’t disclose your surname in your comment.