076/06
14 August 2006

National Coverage Audits for 3G mobile phone network

Independent national audits of the coverage of Telstra’s CDMA mobile phone network compared to its new 3G850 network will be conducted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, announced today.

“The Government welcomes Telstra’s commitment to ensuring that mobile phone coverage on the new network will be the same or better than coverage offered on the current CDMA network. These independent audits will be a tangible way of confirming this,” Senator Coonan said.

“The audits will assess voice coverage of more than 80 sites across different states and topographies. The field testing will include city and regional centres, but will mainly focus on the less well served rural, regional and remote areas.

It will cover a representative sample of sites including flat, mountainous and ‘average’ terrain, as well as wet rice-growing country and river flats. CDMA coverage will be checked through mapping and field testing in a sufficient number and mix of regional, rural and urban representative areas to give a high degree of certainty to the results.

“As part of the benchmark audit of CDMA coverage, ACMA will be briefed on Telstra’s mapping methodology and equivalence criteria. Field testing will be conducted in the last quarter of 2006 to provide a basis for a comparative assessment of coverage to be provided by the new 3G850 network. ACMA will then audit 3G850 coverage again further into the rollout.

“ACMA will report to me on its assessments. The ACMA coverage audits will help assure the Government and mobile phone users that Telstra’s objective of a seamless transition to the new mobile network is being achieved,” Senator Coonan said.

“While the Government has welcomed Telstra’s decision to undertake a major investment in telecommunications infrastructure, particularly in regional Australia, some consumers are concerned about the coverage of the new 3G850 network. Telstra has given public assurances that the CDMA network will remain in place until the new national 3G850 network provides the same or better coverage and services.

“As part of the Government’s commitment to support the transition I established a working group in February 2006 to monitor the transition process. The working group includes representatives from the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, ACMA and Telstra.

“The working group is examining a number of key issues relating to the transition, including Telstra’s customer engagement and information provision strategy, transitional customer issues such as handsets, the progress of Telstra’s trials, data services issues, external stakeholder information strategy, audits of coverage, and license and contractual matters,” Senator Coonan said.

“The audit will go a long way towards providing consumers with the confidence they need during the transition to the new 3G850 network.”