Telstra to pay $20.3m for mass cut of Belong NBN upload speeds

Telstra will pay $18 million in fines and $2.3 million in compensation to Belong customers whose NBN services had the upload speeds cut in late 2020.

The mass downgrade, which saw customers moved from 100/40Mbps to 100/20Mbps plans, caught the attention of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission some two years later, resulting in court action.

The Federal Court has now ruled the downgrade, which impacted almost 9000 customers, breached Australian Consumer Law.

The issue was that the upload speed change was not communicated to customers.

“Telstra’s failure to inform customers that their broadband service had been changed denied them the opportunity to decide whether the changed service was suitable for their needs,” ACCC commissioner Anna Brakey said in a statement.

Customers that qualify for remediation, in the form of “a credit or payment of $15 for each month the customer had been on the lower upload speed plan”, will be contacted by email.

Telstra will also contribute to the ACCC’s legal costs.

A Telstra spokesperson said it accepted the findings and had "worked constructively with the ACCC to resolve the matter."

We should have notified customers about the changes to their services and we’re sorry we let them down," the spokesperson said.

"We’ve taken a number of steps to make things right.

"We have contacted all affected customers – whether they’re still with us or not – to ensure they have an opportunity to access remediation. 

"We’ve also offered, and the ACCC has accepted, an enforceable undertaking to formalise the steps we were already taking."

The reasons for the Court’s judgment are to be published at a later date.