Telstra provides Regional and Rural Presence Plan for consultation

Telstra today announced that its Regional and Rural Presence Plan is open for consultation as required under Licence Condition 32 of the Carrier Licence Conditions (Telstra Corporation Limited) Declaration 1997 (Amendment No. 2 of 2005).

As part of the Licence Condition, Telstra must maintain a local presence in regional, rural and remote Australia to the extent that this is broadly compatible with the licensee’s overall commercial interests and is not unduly prescriptive and does not impose undue financial and administrative burdens on the licensee.

“Prior to providing our draft plan to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Government regulation requires Telstra to publish the plan and invite comment,” head of Telstra Country Wide, Geoff Booth said today.

"Telstra’s commitment to delivering leading products and services to our customers in regional, rural and remote Australia is of the highest order and is unchallenged by any of our competitors.

"This has nothing to do with regulation. If we want to increase sales and retain customers in a highly competitive market, we have to constantly improve the value we offer to customers.

“Continuing upgrades to wireless broadband and improved mobile services over the Next G” network are demonstrable proof of our commitment.

“We are proud today that our Next G” network provides world leading 3G mobile services in terms of speed, features and coverage to the people of regional, rural and remote Australia and customer support continues to grow*.

Telstra continues to value customers in rural, regional and remote Australia in their own right without the need for a Rural and Regional Presence Plan. Such a Plan is not required of any of other 260 licensed carriers currently operating in Australia and is just one example of the unnecessary and costly regulation imposed solely on Telstra and not other telecommunications providers. These additional costs are ultimately borne by Telstra’s customers and are neither cost effective nor necessary" Mr Booth said.

Telstra’s draft 2009 Regional and Rural Presence Plan is available for comment until Friday 20 February 2009 at http://www.telstra.com.au/countrywide/presence_plan.htm.

* As with all mobile networks, coverage depends on where the customer is, the device they use, and whether they use an external antenna.

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" Trade mark of Telstra Corporation Limited ABN 33 051 775 556