010/06
7 March 2006
Minister rejects Telstra’s Local Presence Plan
“Telstra submitted its draft plan to me in December and after considering the plan closely I have decided to reject it and ask Telstra to provide an improved plan to me by the end of April,” the Minister said.
“While this latest draft plan is a significant improvement to the preliminary draft released for public consultations last year, it still falls short.
“In making my decision, I considered closely how Telstra proposed to address the licence condition, the matters I specifically outlined in my Ministerial direction and the outcome of the public consultation.
“One major failing is that Telstra has not given sufficient detail on Telstra’s commitments and the benefits they would deliver to people living in rural, regional and remote Australia going forward.
“I would also like to see the plan contain more information about Telstra’s service levels and its planned activities in regional, rural and remote Australia.
“In informing Telstra of my decision I have also asked for general details on Telstra’s current regional capabilities and plans it has for regional activities and projects over the next 12 months.
“As with operational separation – in order to achieve the desired outcome, the Government does not want to make the Local Presence Plan unduly prescriptive or burdensome and any plan should be broadly compatible with Telstra’s commercial interests.
“This obligation was never designed to be onerous or prescriptive and Telstra’s Country Wide model was very early on held up as an exemplar of local presence.
“The Local Presence Plan is not about forcing Telstra to spend more money on services – it is about ensuring its continued commitment to rural and regional Australia.”
“Telstra’s Local Presence Plan must be tangible – it must be meaningful – and it must be a genuine outline of how Telstra plans to meet its obligations in rural and regional Australia.”