Vodafone has called for a regulatory investigation into competitor Telstra's mobile network coverage claims, alleging that the telco has misled customers for more than a decade.
Vodafone and parent company TPG Telecom claim that Telstra has been engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct for the past 15 years by overstating the geographic reach of its network coverage by up to 40%. These inflated claims have reportedly been used to bolster the telco's network and unfairly contrast it with other competitors.
Vodafone suggests that the telco and its subsidiary, Boost Mobile, have been exaggerating the network coverage most Australians receive by nearly one million square kilometres — which is roughly the size of New South Wales, Victoria and ACT combined.
Vodafone theorises that Telstra used "a special external antenna and powered repeater usually installed on a building or vehicle". Vodafone bases this on Telstra's results, found in the ACCC's 2024 Mobile Infrastructure Report, in which the telco has used such additional equipment to record signal strength.
According to its website, Telstra's advertised mobile network reportedly covers 3 million square kilometres or around "99.7 per cent of the Australian population". However, when you subtract the external antenna data, the actual coverage is around 1.9 million square kilometres, as recorded by the ACCC.
"It appears Telstra has tricked Australians into paying top dollar for coverage they simply can’t get on a regular mobile phone. We are shocked that Telstra appears to have been overstating its coverage by so much for so long, and we are calling on them to make it right,” says TPG's Group Executive Consumer, Kieren Cooney.
Vodafone wrote to the ACCC last week to report the misconduct and has repeatedly called for Telstra "to cease making the claims and to take corrective action".
Telstra's response
Telstra has already responded to initial assertions by Vodafone, changing wording on its website to remove references to the coverage claim. In a statement to IT News, a Telstra spokesperson confirmed that the telco is using an external antenna but argues "any suggestion that we've misled the public about the size of our network is completely untrue."
Further, the telco claims that "many customers in regional and remote areas benefit from using external antennas to maximise their coverage. This is why we have used this as the basis for our coverage footprint."
Backing Vodafone's allegations is none other than Australia's peak national consumer communications advocacy organisation (ACCAN), which has released a statement in support of the requested investigation.
ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett notes that the suggestion that Telstra has magnified its coverage for more than a decade is "serious and damaging." ACCAN research "shows 41% of consumers have limited faith in their telco to act in their best interest, and almost a third said the coverage they received didn’t match what they were told to expect."
"Many Australians, particularly in regional and remote areas, sign up for expensive plans with Telstra because they believe it’s the only option for reliable coverage," Bennett says. "If this allegation is true — and the coverage advantage is not as big as people have been led to believe — regional consumers would be forgiven for feeling betrayed."
Only time will tell if ACCC will pursue this investigation into Australia's major telco, but until then, we’ll keep you updated if more of Telstra's hidden secrets come to light.
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