Telstra has officially switched on over 900 ADSL2+ exchanges, amid allegations of spin by the telco over its decision to back down on the issue of regulation.
Some 370 exchanges will be switched on within seven working days, with some locations including Alice Springs getting the speed bump within the next two days.
Another 132 exchanges, including some in Camperdown, Victoria and Loxton, SA, will be ADSL2+ enabled in three weeks, followed by an additional 405 within 200 days, according to the telco.
BigPond users in newly ADSL2+ enabled areas will need to move to more expensive plans to access the higher speed services, which will see up to 2.4 million users now able to access broadband speeds of up to a theoretical maximum of 20Mbps.
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While the exchanges have been ADSL2+ enabled for some time, Telstra had been holding off on flicking the switch due to regulatory concerns: the telco had not green-lighted DSLAMs in areas where no competitor operated in case the competition regulator mandated it allow rivals to resell those services.
Telstra said it had been given assurances from the government that "it did not consider a compelling case had been made for regulating third-party access" in the newly switched-on areas, after it received a letter on the subject from Broadband Minister Stephen Conroy. Telstra's CEO Sol Trujillo added in a statement that the telco welcomed the government's "regulatory forbearance".
However, the letter in question does not appear to mark any change in government policy, as Telstra has implied.
Conroy's letter says the regulation of the services is not a matter for the government and that he has checked with the ACCC for their position on the matter.
"Mr Samuel [head of the ACCC] has advised: The ACCC has previously indicated that a compelling case has not been made for declaring and regulating third party access to a wholesale xDSL service (including ADSL and ADSL2+ services) ... Mr Samuel has informed me that this position has been reiterated publicly on several occasions", the letter reads.
It continues: "Given the consistency of the ACCC's statements on this matter, I believe there is a high degree of regulatory certainty in relation to the ACCC's approach to wholesale ADSL2+ services ... I would welcome a decision by Telstra to switch on ADSL2+ services in as many exchange areas as possible."
Telstra could not immediately be reached for comment.
David Forman, CEO of the Competitive Carriers Coalition, said Telstra's decision to enable ADSL2+ was an attempt by the telco to rebuild its relationship with the government ahead of its planned rollout of fibre-to-the-node.
"There's been no change in position from the government or regulator ... what there has been is Telstra giving up a point of blackmail. This is the second example of games of chicken [the first being CDMA] with the government and this is [Telstra] realising the government is not going to give way," he said.
gav
06/02/2008 10:13 PM
Telstra....the company should be renamed Passion Fingers
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yoshie
07/02/2008 04:30 PM
What a rip off, they are charging $150 per GB over the limit, when I pay another company $4 per GB, and the uploads aren't counted **** download. How does the Australian Govt let them operate like this?
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telstrasux
07/02/2008 07:38 PM
what use it all, when so many places have rim systems - I can see parliament house from my balcony 8kms away in a straight line yet unable to get any service except dialup in my area
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Jesse
18/03/2008 03:51 PM
yoshie, this is how the govt. can allow telstra to extort australia its the ever loving thing called tax, as long as the govt. gets a cut, it stays. same with ciggarettes... they know it kills people shockingly painfull but they still make bucketload off of it...
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WJ
17/04/2008 10:11 PM
geez when is optus going to get off its lazy butt and offer a competitive solution out here, i hate telco's some are too lazy and serverly overpriced considering the density of the small area's thery cover,and the other is just too dammed expensive. If you truely hate Telstra that much then please support the people that don't have a choice but telstra, and if you live in a highlt populated area then leave your current service provider and go to telstra so that to get reasonable service i don't have to vist my brothers place, to surf the web on other than dialup moral of this is just wait untill you move out here. then we won't here you all complaining on these site "Cause you can't access them""""@!@@@*&*&^*ty%$&^())(*
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INGOLD
01/05/2008 11:29 AM
Easy solution use IInet, good prices, great speeds and best of all great customer services. Stick it up telstra I say.
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Dinger
10/05/2008 03:33 PM
I am not one to side with the bureaucrats - normally the opposite - but I do think that the Govt. has done all it can in sending Telstra the message that it will not protect its market, or at least the ACCC has done so with the Govt's approval. The problem in Aust is we do not have worthy competitors to knock this giant telco off its perch, but they are getting there, slowly. It is simply the way the capitalist system flounders when a cashed up powerful monopoly can operate ruthlessly in a free market system, that is until competition gets a hold. The best thing the public can do is to not support Telstra's Next G, Big Pond or whatever and give its more fairly priced competitor's as much support as possible. That is the only way to compel any commercial enterprise to deliver good value for money. In other words it is up to the public, not the Government.
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