Vodafone accuses Telstra of misleading customers on coverage for years
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The news: Telecoms operator Vodafone has alleged that larger rival Telstra is misleading customers over the extent of its mobile network coverage, giving it an unfair advantage.
The numbers: The operator, which is owned by TPG Telecom, said in a statement that Telstra has engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct for more than 15 years, by overstating the reach of its mobile network by as much as 40%. Telstra and its secondary brand, Boost Mobile, appeared to be overstating the network coverage by nearly one million square kilometres, it said.
The context: Vodafone said it had written to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) last week and urged the regulator to launch an investigation into Telstra's conduct.
Telstra's advertised claim that it has a mobile network coverage area of “3 million square kilometres covering 99.7 per cent of the Australian population" had failed to state that the figure was based on consumers using an external antenna and booster, Vodafone alleged. Without using an external antenna, Telstra's mobile coverage is significantly less at around 1.9 million square kilometres, according to its analysis.
“By overstating the coverage available to most Australians by such an enormous amount, Telstra and its resellers have no doubt retained customers or attracted customers that might otherwise have chosen Vodafone or other TPG Telecom brands such as TPG, Felix, Lebara and Kogan,” it said in a statement.
The source: Vodafone media release
