Asia Times: Telstra under fire over East Timor


	February 19, 2002	atimes.com

Oceania

Telstra under fire over East Timor

CANBERRA - Telstra will pull out of East Timor after more than two years as the civil-war-torn country's only telephone company, prompting accusations of profiteering.

Telstra was originally hired by the Australian Defense Force in late 1999 to provide communications services in East Timor and stayed on under the interim United Nations administration. But the company decided that a permanent role was not in its business plan and did not tender for the job of permanent telecommunications carrier after independence in May.

East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta said that Telstra has made millions out of East Timor and put nothing back. "Telstra did not put much back in East Timor, in terms of infrastructure they simply piggybacked on what was there, what was not destroyed by Indonesia," he said. "They made millions and millions of dollars out of East Timor's situation and I don't think anyone will be missing them ... When they leave and other companies take over there will be no farewell."

But Telstra International spokeswoman Karen Gomez said that Telstra had established a mobile network and a fixed-line network in main centers. "We refute that we haven't invested," she said. "We did resurrect the fixed-line network, we also established a GSM [Global System for Mobile Communications] network that wasn't functioning at the time, but we have since then extended the GSM network to the general public."

Meanwhile, Australia's Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Richard Alston has expressed concern at press reports that Telstra is proposing to close its Australian "Easymail" service without any transitional arrangements for existing customers.

Many small businesses rely on this service to market themselves and their products in a range of publications and withdrawal of the service with minimal notice is likely to impact adversely on the performance of these businesses.

The minister called on Telstra to put consumers first and ensure that if the service is withdrawn then arrangements are put in place that enable users to transition to alternative services in such a manner as to minimize any inconvenience.

(Asia Times Online/Asia Pulse)