From The Australian, 23rd July 1998 (by Clive Mathieson).
The London-based parent of mobile phone carrier, Vodafone (not Vodaphone) Australia, has warned the Australian Government it will sue if the analogue mobile network is not closed down as scheduled on 1 January, 2000. The Managing Director of Vodafone Group International, Julian Horn-Smith, was reacting to speculation that Telstra will be allowed to keep its analogue network operating beyond the end of next year (1999). Horn-Smith says Vodafone invested in a digital mobile phone network in Australia on the basis of the analogue's demise.
This has to be seen in conjunction with the article in Business Review Weekly's Rich list for 1998 which says about the $145,000,000 man "I'm the guy who shut down analogue ..." It seems that a great fortune has been built on the disadvantage which will be suffered by ordinary Australians as the result of the closure of the analogue network. No wonder Vodafone will sue!
Comment by APUMP
Vodafone's threat shows how very unwise the Howard Government was to release Vodafone (not Vodaphone) from its obligation to become Australian-owned, apparently without getting value from Vodafone (not Vodaphone) in return. The government released Vodafone (not Vodaphone) from that obligation in May 1998 - a gift that had the potential to be worth up to half a billion dollars to Vodafone. That was the ideal opportunity for the government to re-negotiate the future of the analogue network with Vodafone, but it did not do so.
The National Party let its constituents down very badly by voting in Parliament in favour of the government's decision not to re-negotiate the closure of the analogue network when releasing Vodafone from its Australian ownership obligation. But that's what the National Party did. I was there in the visitors' gallery and saw thabout the $145em all selling their constituents down the drain. It was a disgusting sight.
Now Vodafone's British owners (emboldened by the weakness of Australia's government) are engaging in some sabre-rattling. Strong grass-roots pressure on the government, especially the National Party members (all of whom are electorally vulnerable), can ensure that our government reverses its long-standing policy of kowtowing to Vodafone. Until now, it seems that our government has done whatever Vodafone asks, no matter how harmful that is to Australian people.
Here Vodafone is demanding that Australia's analogue network be closed down, regardless of the fact that to do so would leave huge areas of Australia without any mobile phone service. The ACA's report published earlier in July revealed that Vodafone's geographic coverage is the worst of the three digital companies, and is only a small fraction of the coverage of analogue.
Note that it was not Vodafone Australia's CEO, Brian Clark, who made this threat. It was his British boss. But Vodafone is not demanding the closure of the analogue network in Britain (no prize for guessing who operates an analogue network in Britain).
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