http://www.telecomexpo.com.au/content/view/128/45/

     Tuesday, 18 September 2007
     COMMUNICATIONS Minister Helen Coonan has passed to Attorney-General
Philip Ruddock the decision whether imposed varies licensing condition on
Telstra in order to extend the life of the CDMA network.
     Senator Coonan said she had given passed the issue to Mr Ruddock to
ensure there was "no suggestion of pre-judgement" regarding the decision.

     It is hard to imagine how relations between Telstra and the Federal
Government could be worse. The bitterness has led to a point where from the
outside it seems communications between the two sides is being carried out
either through lawyers in the courts, or through the media in the court of
public opinion.

     The planned closure of the CDMA mobile phone network next February is
an especially sore point. Government says Telstra has committed to ensuring
its Next G coverage is the equivalent or better than the CDMA network it
replaces.

     Telstra doesn't dispute making the commitment. The differences are
about what constitutes an equivalent or better service, and the manner in
which the issue has been addressed.

     And Telstra also claims the issue has been hijacked by a Government
election agenda, and that public statements by Senator Coonan made it appear
she had already decided to force Telstra to extend the life of the network -
outside of the due process for imposing new licensing conditions.

     In a statement to media, Senator Coonan "strongly refutes allegations
of bias or pre-judgement in the matter" and said that "it remains the case
that I have an open mind on the matter."

     Whilst the Minister does not concede Telstra's Federal Court claim has
any merit, she has elected not to take part in the decision as to whether or
not Telstra's licence condition in respect of the CDMA shut down should be
varied.

     "So as to ensure that there is no suggestion of prejudgement regarding
this decision and to ensure that Australian taxpayers and Telstra
shareholders are spared unnecessary delay and expense, the Attorney-General
will take on the role of decision maker," Senator Coonan said.

     Telstra Group managing director of Public Policy and Communications
Phil Burgess last week accused government of trying to slow the roll-out of
Next G by locking regional Australia into the ageing CDMA technology.

     "The scent of election politics rather than advancing consumer
interest unfortunately permeates all of the Minister's recent policy
decisions," Dr Burgess said.