General News
24 July, 2024
Telstra under the pump after North West's major events left in the lurch
The telco is scrambling to hold meetings with key stakeholders to address the situation.
Telstra regional general manager Rachel Cliffe is expected to face the ire of North West councils and businesses during a region-wide tour beginning next week, as the telco scrambles to explain a series of network collapses during the peak tourist season.
As previously reported by North West Weekly, Telstra has come under repeated fire in recent weeks after wireless financial transactions and mobile phone reception were non-existent at major tourist drawcards such as the Richmond Field Days and Boulia Camel Races.
Following the flurry of complaints and negative publicity, some councils and event organisers told North West Weekly they received unexpected calls from Telstra representatives last week requesting face to face meetings.
Telstra has confirmed it will hold meetings in Boulia, Winton, Cloncurry, Julia Creek, Richmond and Hughenden.
Ms Cliffe said the meetings had actually been planned “for some time” and were part of the company’s “regular check-ins with regional communities.”
“As well as meeting key stakeholders, we’ll also be setting up in town to assist and support locals with any questions or issues they have and we look forward to meeting everyone soon,” she said.
When North West Weekly phoned Richmond mayor John Wharton for comment on Friday, the call dropped out twice in the space of three minutes.
“I am driving past the servo in town (Richmond) and it’s still dropping out,” he said.
A frustrated Cr Wharton instructed North West Weekly to phone Richmond Shire Council CEO Peter Bennett, who said Telstra representatives had only hastily contacted him on Thursday – soon after the latest article about Telstra had been published – to arrange a meeting.
Mr Bennett said Richmond business operators were regularly forced to take their EFPTOS machines outside in an attempt to get enough signal to process a financial transaction.
“Richmond has complained for years about the poor 4G service in Richmond to Telstra and they have supposedly done tests and say there is nothing wrong with the network,” he said.
“The Flinders Highway network coverage has also deteriorated over the last few years.
“I could access the Telstra network all the way from Townsville to Richmond with the only black spot being Bullock Creek where it goes down a deep ravine. Even with a car kit installed you can now only get signal for maybe one-third of the distance between Townsville and Richmond.”
Boulia Shire mayor Rick Britton said unreliable telecommunications during events undermined the efforts of organisers to draw tourists to the region.
“Telstra has got to get its act together,” he said.
“They don’t have to put up with this kind of service in the south-east corner, so why should anyone be expected to put up with it in Western Queensland?
“The Outback Way is being constructed and we are going to see a significant increase in tourists through our region from 2034 onwards. This is the 21st century and we rely on telecommunications.”
Ms Cliffe said Telstra invested more than any other telco in regional and rural Australia.
“Our mobile network now covers one million square kilometres, more than any other telco, as a result,” she said.