Telstra cuts one million square km under new rules forcing telcos to provide accurate coverage maps
Telstra has been forced to cut its coverage map by one million square kilometers under strict new rules introduced by the regulator requiring telcos to publish accurate mobile network coverage maps.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is requiring Telstra, Optus and TPG Telecom (Vodafone) to publish standardized maps showing 4G and 5G coverage across Australia as good, fair, basic or no coverage by 30 June.
According to the new rules, areas with mobile signal strength below -115 dBm will be considered out of coverage, users will be able to make calls and send SMS, the service will be limited, inconsistent or non-existent.
Good coverage areas will have uninterrupted connectivity and voice call, SMS and data communication performance.
Communications Minister Anika Wells said people needed to know what they were getting when they signed up with a provider and make informed decisions about the services they relied on.
“There are long-standing issues around the quality and comparability of mobile coverage maps published by telecommunications companies, and the Government is putting an end to this confusion,” he said.
While Telstra supports the changes it outlined during the consultation, the -115 dBm threshold would remove coverage of around one million square kilometers (an area larger than the size of NSW) from its maps.
Optus and TPG Telecom considered 115dBm to be the minimum and did not believe reliable coverage could be achieved below this level.
TPG Telecom told the media: “ACMA says coverage means your phone is working. Telstra wants coverage to mean your phone may sometimes show a bar but probably won’t be able to make calls.”
ACMA President Nerida O’Loughlin said network coverage maps were measured and presented differently between mobile providers, frustrating consumers and making it impossible to make meaningful comparisons between them.
“These new rules will enable each carrier to provide the public with a similar comparison of service coverage elsewhere across Australia,” he said.
