Telstra phone exchanges in the Southern Highlands are among the worst in the nation and in desperate need of repair work, according to a damning report released by the telecommunications watchdog.
Less than a week after the federal Lower House gave the full sale of Telstra the green light, the report by the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) reveals alarming faults in four Highlands exchanges including Moss Vale and High Range, which Telstra says it is already working on fixing.
Hume MP Alby Schultz, who has opposed his own party's bid to sell off Telstra, said the latest report was added proof rural customers were being shortchanged by the telecommunications giant.
"What this says to me is that Telstra has massive problems in the Highlands and for those to say that's not the case is just flying in the face of reality," Mr Schultz said.
"Some of the technology is bloody 1920s stuff and it's pretty disconcerting."
Mr Schultz's own survey of Hume residents exposed widespread opposition to the full sale of Telstra with nearly 90 per cent against the move.
And in another stinging blow to Telstra, the communication union CEPU has joined the chorus of condemnation.
"In the last 24 months there has been a massive decline in the reliability of the Southern Highlands telephone network," branch secretary Jim Metcher said.
"Telstra's sub-standard construction and the state of the network is now fully out in the open.
"The two Bowral Telstra field technicians that were made redundant in May should have been working on the phone network to provide a reliable phone and internet service to Highlands customers.
"We're now hearing through leaked reports that another two field technicians are to be made redundant in Bowral. It's obvious the management of Telstra find it easy to get the share price up if they sack staff.
"This will again lead to massive phone outages next time we have heavy rain and Highlands phone users should not be held to ransom on lengthy delays to have phone services repaired."
Other substandard exchanges highlighted by the report are in The Oaks and Kangaroo Valley.
But Telstra has defended itself against the claims, saying it was already addressing the problems.
"We're always targeting these areas and in the past six months we've spent over $2 million addressing them," Telstra general manager for the Illawarra Mark McKenzie said.
"This is not about an entire exchange, this report simply relates to a few isolated customers in the exchange," he said.
"The result is simply indicative of the age of the system. And it's not fair to blame the redundancies for the problem, there is no direct correlation between what the field technicians do and these problems.
"It is widely known that there may be more redundancies but we will not confirm or deny that."
And Gilmore MP Joanna Gash, who last week praised Telstra's service in her electorate, said the ACA's findings were a positive result.
"I welcome the results of the ACA investigation and the whole exercise demonstrates the benefits to regional customers in identifying the areas that need attention and then requiring Telstra to both report on and monitor performance for the next two years," Mrs Gash said.
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