Telstra pays fine for tardy new connections

Telstra has been fined $510,000 by the communications regulator after failing to meet legislated standards for making new fixed-line connections in urban areas.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority issued a formal infringement notice (pdf) to Telstra on November 27 last year over the breach.

It made the text of the notice public today after receiving the payment.

Under the customer service guarantee (CSG) standard, there are maximum connection periods that Telstra is required to adhere to when it is asked to provision a brand new fixed-line service.

The periods vary depending on the size of the "urban" area. For example, connections are expected within five days in urban areas where the population is greater than 10,000 people. More time is afforded in smaller-sized urban locations.

Ninety percent is considered a pass mark for each of the nine CSG benchmarks, which deal with making new fixed-line connections, reconnections, fault rectification and appointment-keeping.

Telstra was fined because only 88.6 percent of premises in urban Australia where a brand new fixed-line connection was sought in 2012-13 received it within the legislated timeframe.

The ACMA said that Telstra would have had to have made more 3938 more timely connections to reach the requisite 90 percent benchmark.

Telstra also received a formal warning over its removal of eight payphones during the same financial year, though it escaped a financial sanction in this instance.

The carrier exceeded CSG requirements for rectifying network faults in all parts of Australia. It also kept 97.3 percent of its appointments, far exceeding the 90 percent benchmark.