FAX FROM:

John Anderson MP, National Party Leader and Deputy Prime Minister

Dear mobile phone user:

I write in response to the fax campaign launched by Mr Boyd Munro of APUMP on New Year’s Eve.

ON the matter of mobile phones, Mr Munro and the Federal Government differ on one vital aspect. Mr Munro thinks that the present Government could keep the analogue (AMPS) network open by ignoring

or revisiting a 1992 contractual agreement made by the (then) Labor Federal Government.  The present Government, after taking legal advice, confirmed that the 1992 agreement was valid, and bound the Commonwealth to removing the AMPS spectrum at midnight on December 31, 1999.

However the present Government – and National Party members in particular – realised that the alternative digital services (GSM) were not satisfactory in regional Australia because of their limited signal range.

We sought a means to maintain effective mobile phone services in regional Australia – against the background that it had to be a commercial solution because mobile phones do not fall under the

definition of “standard telephone service” hence it was not possible to impose some form of legislated standard.

The solution was found through the introduction of a new mobile phone service using CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology – a digital phone service offering signal range similar to AMPS.  The Government also secured an extension of the AMPS cut-off date in regional areas to allow the new system to be rolled out.

The result is that Telstra will replace every AMPS transmitter across Australia with a CDMA

transmitter. In addition, it will install CDMA transmitters on about 100 GSM-only towers around the country. This means that every area that had an AMPS transmitter will have a CDMA transmitter, and many areas that did not have AMPS will gain CDMA services.

The roll-out of the new service is being done in stages.  The first stage was to install CDMA in the

major capital cities – Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth – the ACT, and some country areas

in those States.  That was completed in the last quarter of 1999, and it was only in those areas that

AMPS was closed down on December 31.

That closure affected all metropolitan base stations and some 130 base stations in non-metropolitan

areas so, at the time of writing, most of the 400 or so AMPS base stations across non-metropolitan Australia are still operating.  In all areas, CDMA will be installed and running before AMPS is

removed.

No-one can guarantee that CDMA will deliver exactly the same reception as AMPS in every location

for every subscriber.  AMPS has its blank spots and hot spots and CDMA will be the same.

It will also take a little time to find how to get the most from the new technology.  For example, I have found in my home area that a CDMA car kit with a high gain antenna gives excellent reception – significantly better than the 3-watt boosted car kit needed to get the best reception from AMPS.  (I have never had mobile coverage at my farm.)

Finally, let me remind you that it was the National Party members in particular who pushed hard to find a replacement for AMPS.  The result is that there will not only be a replacement, but the regional mobile phone network will be wider.  I am confident that, once the bedding-in period has passed, CDMA will

be regarded as not just an adequate replacement for AMPS, but a better and more useful network.

Yours sincerely

John Anderson MP

Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600  Tel: (02) 6277 7680 Fax: (02) 6273 4126

"This is a precise word-for-word reproduction of Mr. Anderson's fax.  You can view the original fax on the internet at http://www.apump.com/a164ubpr.jpg.  Or call Mr. Anderson's office on (02) 6277 7680 to request your own copy."