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Australia: Punishment for Recession

Australia: Punishment for Recession



By Carlos PIRES, The

We all know that speeding is punishable by fines, but an Australian court upheld the penalty for speeding.

We are obviously talking about internet speed here: Step Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)Australia’s three largest internet service providers – Telstra Corporation Ltd (Telstra), Optus Internet Pty Limited (Optus) and TPG Internet Pty Ltd (TPG) – have each been ordered by the Federal Court to pay a total of $33,500,000 in fines after they pleaded guilty. Actions brought by the ACCC include false or misleading representations to consumers when advertising certain NBN internet packages.

Ordered to pay $15 million to Telstra; Optus and TPG were fined $13.5 million and $5 million respectively for breaching the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) by making false or misleading statements about their 50 Mbps or 100 Mbps fiber offer.

In statements on their websites, consumer emails or telesales, Telstra, Optus and TPG promised to notify consumers within a reasonable time of their connections if they could not achieve the speeds they were paying for. They also said that if these consumers can’t reach the maximum speed of their plans, they will be offered options including downgrading to a cheaper plan with a refund.

Telstra, Optus and TPG each admitted their statements were false or misleading because they did not have adequate systems, processes and policies in place to ensure they did what they said they would do.

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