Thursday, Nov 08, 2007 at 16:59
Next G handset dealer headacheFont Size: Decrease Increase Print Page: Print Chris Jenkins and Michael Sainsbury | April 24, 2007
HANDSETS have emerged as the biggest headache for Telstra's Next G network.
Customers are being turned off by regular breakdowns to Telstra's own-brand phone, a shortage of alternatives, and an absence of big-name choices.
The Telstra handset, made by Chinese vendor ZTE, is the cheapest in the telco's range.
"There have been many returns, and we're not recommending the phone," one dealer said.
However, the dealer said, Telstra shops were still pushing the ZTE because Telstra "makes high margins" on it. Coverage has improved, but call centre staff report that this remains an issue for Telstra, which is planning to close its regional CDMA network in January and move the CDMA customer base to Next G.
"The quality of handsets is not good enough," a Queensland dealer said. "The technology is fantastic, but the handsets aren't up there yet."
The Australian understands there have been many complaints about the ZTE 850.
"I try not to sell them," one dealer said. The phone was particularly unsuitable for work use.
There was also no warranty support in Australia for it and faulty handsets were simply replaced with a new unit, he said.
However, replacement could take up to three weeks.
The ZTE 850 is being replaced by the ZTE 252, which is only now flowing into the dealer channel.
The LG TU 500 is also said to suffer inconsistent quality.
However, that model is scheduled for a move to prepaid, to be replaced by the supposedly more rugged TU550 in the post-paid lineup.
"There are some handsets, such as the Samsung and Motorola, that we don't seem to be having problems with, but they don't have the external antenna on the car kit," a regional dealer said. Sales of Next G are steady according to dealers, although they have slowed since the first huge marketing push.
One of the key problems for Telstra is the lack of available handsets from Nokia, the dominant player in Australia, and Sony Ericsson.
Many rural users are loyal to Nokia's CDMA handsets, but none is available at present. Its 6120 model would be available early in second half of the year, Nokia Australia chief Shaun Colligan said. "It will be available for all operators on 850MHz and 2100MHz," Mr Colligan said.
"We're looking at making about four or five devices available for Next G towards the end of the year, including a high-end phone in the N series."
The deadlock between Telstra and Nokia over wholesale arrangements has done little to help dealers. Telstra and Nokia were "as arrogant as each other", one said. The monopoly that wholesale distributor Brightstar has over Next G handsets has long been a sore point for Telstra dealers outside the Telstra
Shop retail chain.
An LG TU 500 retailed in Telstra Shops for about $500 is reportedly being wholesaled to other dealers at $489.
"I can't sell it at $500 and stay in business," one dealer said. Earlier this year, Telstra was reportedly giving its own shops better wholesale prices than its third-party dealers.
Some dealers have complained that stock has arrived too late to support CDMA conversion promotions run by Telstra Country Wide. Another problem is the shift of 1.6 million CMDA customers to Next G.
Telstra is not the only network with problems. On the weekend, the Optus mobile networks in
Melbourne fell over.
Optus has blamed an equipment failure for a network outage that left 2G and 3G mobile customers in
Melbourne without service on Saturday night. The outage began at 11pm on Saturday and continued until 9am the next day.
The problem meant Optus mobile customers could not make or receive voice calls or use SMS in area radiating 15km from the
Melbourne CBD, an Optus spokeswoman said. "The outage was the result of a vendor-related hardware fault," she said.
Nokia Siemens Networks is the major supplier to Optus, but the telco declined to name the supplier of the equipment that failed.
"We regret the inconvenience to our customers and people trying to contact our customers," the spokeswoman said.
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