Angus Kidman06 December 2007, 11:09 AM
Telstra misled the public over Next G coverage, the Federal Court has ruled. Now, the telco giant doesn't want the public to see evidence that was presented in court.
Telstra's claims that Next G coverage is "everywhere you need it" have suffered a blow after the Federal Court found that the company's advertising of the high-speed network had been misleading. But just what secrets about handset performance are still waiting to emerge?
Regulatory watchdog the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) today announced that it had won in its case against Telstra for "misleading or deceptive" conduct in Next G advertisements.
The crux of the case was that Telstra's claim that Next G had "coverage everywhere you need it" and offered better coverage than its CDMA predecessor was misleading, since Next G performance could vary substantially depending on terrain, physical structures blocking signal and -- most crucially -- the choice of handset.
Telstra offers specialised handsets to deal with signal problems in more remote areas; indeed, it released the in-car kit for its "Country Phone" only last week. However, Justice Gordon ruled that the necessity of using such equipment in some areas could not reasonably be inferred from Telstra's general Next G marketing, much of which didn't mention such restrictions.
Tantalisingly, it seems that there's more to be learnt about how Next G handsets work.
"Justice Gordon found it unnecessary to make findings about other evidence adduced before the court relating to the specifics of handset performance," the ACCC statement tersely notes.
"A number of items of evidence relating to handset performance were ordered to be confidential at Telstra's request and are not publicly available at this time without further orders of the court."
The ACCC is urging customers who feel their Next G service is not up to scratch to start complaining. "The ACCC considers that it is incumbent on Telstra to provide relief to consumers who have been misled into purchasing Next G handsets and services which do not deliver the promised coverage performance," chairman Graeme Samuel said in a statement.
In October, Telstra declared that its Next G service had wider coverage than CDMA citing test results that involved technicians spending far too much time in 4WDs as they criss-crossed the country, perhaps ringing people to announce "I'm still in the car" every so often.
Telstra had planned to switch the CDMA network off on January 28, though that move will require government approval. Telstra has already announced that it plans to appeal the latest court decision, so it looks like there's plenty more regulatory argy-bargy ahead.