Munro
and Telstra Need Reality Check: Anderson
12th
January 2000
Both
Boyd Munro of APUMP, and Telstra need to take a reality check in relation to the
changes
in mobile phone services, the Leader of the National Party and Member for
Gwydir, John
Anderson, said today.
Mr
Anderson was commenting on claims by Mr Munro this week that he had obtained
“adequate
service” from the analogue network at a gate to Mr Anderson’s property.
“I don’t know how Boyd Munro managed to obtain analogue signal at
the gate to my farm, but I do
know that he has achieved something no-one else has been able to manage.” Mr
Anderson said
“I can assure him that neither I, nor anyone else that I know of
before him has been able to
receive mobile reception on the
property. Maybe Mr Munro’s success had something to do with
his specially equipped van and its
mass of aerials and electronic equipment.
“The reality that most people use ordinary phones and drive around in
ordinary utes with hay
bales, not computers , in the back.
“If Mr Munro thinks ‘adequate service’ is driving to the gate in a
high-tech, specially set-up
van to make a phone call, then he has completely lost touch with reality.
“I notice that he also critiscised me for having a satellite phone
available while I was acting Prime
Minister. Far from being a point of criticism, that should have driven home the
point about lack
of mobile phone coverage on my farm.
Obviously, as Acting Prime Minister I needed to be immediately
accessible, and obviously I
needed a satellite phone for that because mobiles don’t work at the farm.”
Mr Anderson also said Telstra needed to take a reality check in
addressing some of the practical
problems arising from the transition from AMPS to CDMA.
“For example, it has become clear that there is a significant
reception problem with the dual mode
CDMA phone handsets operating in analogue mode – they just don’t have the
range of the
top quality analogue-only phones.
“The result is that many country people who have signed up early for
CDMA are facing a real
problem. They won’t have access to CDMA for months yet in some cases, but in
the meantime
they can’t raise an adequate analogue signal on the new phones in the same
areas where previously
they had good signal.”
Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600
Ph. 02 6277 7680
Fax: 02 6273 4126
Email: john.Anderson.mp@aph.gov.au