Telstra found to have misled 9,000 customers over broadband speed claims

Telstra continued to make these representations by failing to update customers once the unilateral migration had occurred. Telstra acknowledged its failure in 2021 and provided a one-off $90 credit to these consumers.

The court also found that Telstra had made false or misleading representations to a further 6,112 Belong customers who had acquired the 40mbps plan between 20 September 2018 and October 2020.

While Telstra never stated the maximum upload speed to these customers, the court found that these consumers would have reasonably construed the service to which they were bound was the same in all material aspects, including upload speed, as it had always been.

The context: The ACCC, which initiated the court action, is seeking declarations, penalties, consumer redress, costs and other orders.

The court will determine the penalty and any consumer redress after a hearing on a date to be fixed.

What they said: "Telstra’s failure to inform customers that their broadband service had been altered denied them the opportunity to decide whether the changed service was suitable for their needs," ACCC commissioner Liza Carver said.

"There was no reduction to the price Telstra charged its customers even though the cost charged by NBN Co to Telstra was $7 a month less for the new, lower speed service.

"It is simply unacceptable for a supplier of essential services to mislead consumers when reducing the quality of the services it is providing to its customers."