"The Howard Government has today walked shamelessly away from its pre-election promise to mobile phone users", claims Boyd Munro (President of APUMP).

"Just six months ago the Deputy Prime Minister said in a Press Release that "every area of Australia which currently receives coverage from the Telstra analogue AMPS network will continue to receive the same coverage when the network is upgraded ..."   (see http://www.apump.com/cdmafta1.htm)

"Now, with the election safely out of the way, the Minister for Communications has turned his back on that assurance. Today's Press release says only that a "reasonably equivalent" coverage will be provided. This means that large areas of Australia are going to lose mobile phone coverage.

"On 8th April, before the election, Mr. Larry Anthony wrote to his constituents saying 'the Government has a practical and workable solution to ensure that mobile phone users in regional Australia do not lose out'. Many other Government MPs such as Gary Nairn, Lou Lieberman and David Hawker gave similar assurances to their constituents.

"Now, the Minister is saying that people in regional Australia will have to throw away their mobile phones at the end of this year, and replace them with an expensive, unproven alternative which is not even on the market yet.

"The excuse that this is all Labor's fault is just a furphy. The Minister was the Shadow Minister at the time that contract was tabled in Parliament in May 1993. He did not complain about it that day - he was busy complaining about $50,000 in expenses, but said nothing about the contract. As far as I am aware, he did not complain about that contract afterwards. He spoke in Parliament some 700 times in 1993, he covered w ide range of topics - but not the contract. And the reason for that is very simple - the contract contained adequate provisions for preserving the analogue network in the event that the then-new GSM digital system did not live up to the high hopes held for it. Clause 3.2(c) provides that the Minister may authorise the continuation of the analogue network for certain purposes, one of those being "protecting or promoting the interests of consumers of telecommunications services". In 1993 no-one had any idea that GSM digital phone service would prove hopeless in country areas, but in 1999 we all know that it has. The interests of mobile phone users therefore need protecting and promoting, and this the Howard Government is failing to do.

"The Howard Government has the ability to keep the analogue network open. But it lacks the will to do so.

"I call on all those affected to make your feelings about these broken promises clearly known to your Federal M.P.. You can get your MP's phone number and address from the AEC by phoning 13 2326. Write a letter demanding that the government stick to its pre-election promises that no-one in regional Australia would lose out. Demand that no analogue base station be closed down until a CDMA base station at the same place has demonstrated that it has coverage equal to or better than the analogue station. Don't give up - we can still change this misguided plan if we act together and act forcefully.

"There is still a huge question mark over CDMA coverage. CDMA phones are not yet available in the shops in Australia. Worse still, booster kits for use in cars, trucks and tractors do not yet exist. The wording of the Government's Press Release today makes it clear to me that CDMA coverage is going to fall far short of analogue's coverage."

ENDS ...

Further information from Boyd Munro on 1800 124 639. The entire Vodafone contract can be seen on APUMP's website at www.apump.com/vodacon.htm