Introduction

Telstra is committed to achieving customer service excellence. To this end, we are committed to upholding the legislated Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Standard 2000, as amended ("the CSG Standard") issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. The CSG Standard specifies certain requirements to which carriage service providers (including Telstra) must adhere to in relation to the provision and repair of Standard Telephone Services and appointments associated with these activities.

The following is a summary of the key features of the CSG Standard including - its scope, the specified timeframes and CSG entitlements.



Scope of the CSG Standard

The CSG Standard applies to all fixed telephone companies and covers the Standard Telephone Service (STS) and five specified Enhanced Call Handling Features (ECHF).
These features are:

• Call Waiting - enabling a customer to receive a second call on a telephone service while engaged on a call;
• Call Forwarding - causing a call directed to a number to be re-directed to a stored number;
• Call Barring/Control - enabling a customer to control access to some, or all, network numbers before a call is established (this does not include network barring arrangements);
• Calling Number Display - enabling a customer to identify the number of a calling party; and
• Calling Number Display Blocking - enabling a customer to prevent the display of his or her number to a called party.

What is covered?

Consistent with the Federal Government’s stated policy on CSG application to Residential and Small Business Customers, the CSG Standard applies only to customers with no greater than five Standard Telephone Services. A customer does not include a carrier or a carriage service provider.

The CSG Standard applies to:

• connections and fault repairs of Standard Telephone Services and the five specified Enhanced Call Handling Features; and
• appointments associated with these activities.

For connections, Standard Telephone Services are eligible regardless of what is connected at the end of the service (eg. Internet or fax). However, for repairs, only voice telephony faults are covered. This means that non-voice faults such as Internet access or fax faults are not covered by the CSG Standard.


What is not covered?

The CSG Standard does not apply to data products (eg. Telstra’s Digital Data Services), customer premises equipment, customer cabling, payphones, and sophisticated business-oriented services, such as Telstra’s Centel, SiteLines, corporate virtual private network and similar services. It also does not apply to mobile or satellite services, unless these are used to deliver Universal Service Obligation (USO) telephone services. It also does not apply to activities past the network boundary point (NBP), namely, the first telephone socket, the network termination device (NTD) or the main distribution frame (MDF) where applicable.

Individuals and organisations that have a direct retail contractual arrangement with a telephone service provider other than Telstra should contact that company directly for all matters relating to the CSG Standard.

Additional exclusions are summarised in the section 'When the CSG Standard does not apply'


Customer service locations

Consistent with the CSG Standard, Telstra has defined the different demographic categories as shown below:

Service location category	Demographic size
Urban	Township/community grouping of 10,000 people or more
Major Rural	Township/community grouping of more than 2,500 people but less than 10,000 people
Minor Rural	Township/community grouping of 201 people or more but not more than 2,500 people within a standard zone
Remote	Township/community grouping of less than 200 people or township/community grouping located outside a standard zone

Appointments

• We aim to keep agreed appointments to meet you in relation to connection and repair of your Standard Telephone Service and specified Enhanced Call Handling Features.
• If we fail to keep an agreed appointment, you may be entitled to receive a CSG payment for a missed appointment. A new appointment may have to be arranged.
• If an appointment time or location is changed either by you or by Telstra with reasonable notice of at least 24 hours, or by agreement, you are not entitled to receive a CSG payment.

For appointments, the CSG Standard allows the following grace periods as shown below:

Service location	Appointment period	Grace period
All Locations	Less than or equal to 4 hours	15 minutes
Urban and Major Rural	Greater than 4 hours and less than or equal to 5 hours	None
Minor Rural and Remote	Greater than 4 hours and less than or equal to 5 hours1	45 minutes

Table Footnote:
^{Footnote 1} Where there is a need to travel a long distance



Notifying Telstra

When requesting a connection or reporting a fault, customers are required to contact Telstra by 5 pm on a working day for the specified connection and fault timeframes to apply from that day. Customer requests received after this time will be taken to have been received the following working day.

A working day is a day that is not a Saturday, a Sunday or a public holiday in the customer service area.



Connections

• We aim to promptly connect your Standard Telephone Service and specified Enhanced Call Handling Features within timeframes consistent with the CSG Standard or Our Customer Terms (OCT), whichever is the shorter timeframe. These timeframes are based on the service location and the availability of telecommunications infrastructure and spare capacity Telstra can use to connect your service (see table below). Infrastructure refers to systems and facilities used in the provision of telecommunications services. It includes: radio distribution systems, network cables and lead-in cables to the customer premises. Further information on Our Customer Terms is available at http://www.telstra.com.au/customerterms/.
• Where delay is envisaged in supplying you with a Standard Telephone Service, we may offer you an interim telephone service, or in some circumstances, a choice between an interim telephone service and an alternative telephone service. An example of an interim telephone service is the temporary provision of a mobile telephone service (at standard telephone rates), while waiting for your permanent telephone service to be connected. An example of an alternative telephone service is a call diversion to a mobile or fixed telephone service.
  
• You may be entitled to a CSG payment for every working day of delay beyond an agreed connection date. See 'How much do we pay?' for more details.

Telstra will apply the "guaranteed maximum connection periods" set out below. The time frames are consistent with the CSG Standard. In some circumstances Telstra has committed to applying shorter timeframes. These are specified in Telstra's Our Customer Terms:

Service location	In-place connection1	New connection with infrastructure and spare capacity	New connection without infrastructure or spare capacity
Urban	Within 2 working days after request	Within 5 working days after request	Within 20 working days (equivalent to 1 month) after request
Major Rural	Within 2 working days after request	Within 10 working days after request	Within 20 working days (equivalent to 1 month) after request
Minor Rural	Within 2 working days after request	Within 10 working days after request2	Within 20 working days (equivalent to 1 month) after request
Remote	Within 2 working days after request	Within 15 working days after request	Within 20 working days (equivalent to 1 month) after request

Table Footnotes:
^{Footnote 1} An in-place connection is a connection of a Standard Telephone Service at a site where a previous working service has been cancelled by the previous account holder and is available for automatic reconnection or reactivation without the need for Telstra to do any other connection work at the customer premises, the local telephone exchange, or any places in between.
^{Footnote 2} The legislated connection timeframe for a New connection with infrastructure and spare capacity in a Minor Rural location is 15 working days. Telstra has committed to a shortened timeframe of 10 working days in these circumstances.



Repairs

• We aim to promptly repair faults or service difficulties on your Standard Telephone Service and specified Enhanced Call Handling Features. Note that the CSG Standard does not cover non-voice faults or service difficulties such as modem and fax dropouts.
• We will repair faults and service difficulties within specified time periods based on the service location (see table below).
• Where delay is envisaged in repairing your Standard Telephone Service, we may offer you an interim telephone service, or in some circumstances, a choice between an interim telephone service and an alternative service, while waiting for your permanent telephone service to be repaired.
  
• You may be entitled to a CSG payment for every working day of delay beyond an agreed repair date. See 'How much do we pay?' for more details.

The guaranteed maximum repair periods specified by the CSG Standard are:

Service location	Time for repair1
Urban	End of one full working day after report1
Major Rural	End of two full working days after report
Minor Rural	End of two full working days after report
Remote	End of three full working days after report

^{Footnote 1} The time for repair relating to 'end of one full working day after report' applies to all service locations where the fault occurs due to an administrative error by the telephone company, or if the fault can be rectified without the telephone company attending customer premises or undertaking internal or external plant work.



How much do we pay?

For connection, repair and appointment liability incurred on or after 31 October 2006, we are liable to make a CSG payment to you in accordance with the CSG Standard in the following circumstances:

• If we fail to connect or repair your service within the specified time period or on an agreed date, you may be entitled to receive a CSG payment of $14.52 (for residential/charity customers) or $24.20 (for business customers), for each working day that we miss, for the first five working days of delay. After the initial five working days of delay, you may be entitled to receive a CSG payment of $48.40 per additional working day of delay.
• If only one Enhanced Call Handling Feature is not connected or repaired within the specified time period or on an agreed date, you may be entitled to receive a CSG payment of $7.26 (for residential/charity customers) or $12.10 (for business customers) for each working day of delay. After the initial five working days of delay, you may be entitled to receive a CSG payment of $24.20 (for all customer types) for each additional working day of delay.
• If two or more Enhanced Call Handing Features are not connected or repaired within the specified time period or on an agreed date, you may receive a CSG payment of $14.52 (for residential/charity customers) or $24.20 (for business customers), for each working day of delay. After the initial five working days of delay, you may be entitled to receive a CSG payment of $48.40 (for all customer types) for each additional working day of delay.
• If an appointment is missed on a day that is not a day in relation to which you are entitled to receive a CSG payment in accordance with any of the above circumstances, you may be entitled to receive a CSG payment of $14.52 (for residential/charity customers) or $24.20 (for business customers), for each missed appointment.
• Eligible CSG entitlements are automatically notified and credited to your account.
• The maximum CSG amount payable under the CSG Standard is $25,000.
• The Goods and Services Tax (GST) introduced on 1 July 2000 does not apply to CSG payments.

When the CSG Standard does not apply

The CSG Standard does not apply in certain circumstances, including the following:

• When you accept a reasonable offer and supply of an interim telephone service or, where you have been offered a choice between an interim telephone service or an alternative service and you have accepted an alternative service, while waiting for your permanent telephone service to be connected or repaired.
• When you do not accept the reasonable offer of an interim telephone service only, or do not accept the offer of an alternative service where it is offered in combination with an interim telephone service, while waiting for your permanent telephone service to be connected or repaired.
• Where delays are due to circumstances outside Telstra's control such as: damages to Telstra facilities by a third party; natural disasters or extreme weather conditions (eg bushfire, flood, cyclones etc) or where delays are caused by Telstra needing to move staff or equipment to an area affected by circumstances beyond the control of Telstra; compliance with any law of the Commonwealth, State, Territory or Local Government. For more details refer to Telstra's Internet website on CSG Exemptions www.telstra.com.au/msd/.
• Where a missed appointment occurs over a period of connection or repair delay for which a CSG liability already applies.
• Where you are connected by another carriage service provider to a Standard Telephone Service and request Telstra to supply that service, the CSG Standard does not apply in respect of the connection timeframe.
• Where you have agreed to waive your right to CSG eligibility under the CSG Standard.
• Where your telephone service is an InContact® service.
• Where Enhanced Call Handling Features are not available due to existing network limitations.
• Where you are able to activate the Enhanced Call Handling Features from your telephone handset or customer equipment.
• Where you request connection of your telephone service and we have reasonable grounds for believing that you would be unable or unwilling to pay the charges for connection or use of the service, or if you were disconnected for non-payment of a charge and we have not reached agreement for the payment of that charge.
• Where it is necessary to withdraw the service(s) in order to maintain or upgrade a facility and Telstra has given reasonable notice.
• If you unreasonably withhold agreement to an appointment offered by Telstra.
• If you fail to keep an appointment with Telstra without giving at least 24 hours notice.
• If you unreasonably refuse Telstra access to your premises.
  
  
  
  How to contact Telstra
  
  

• To make a service guarantee enquiry in relation to the connection of your Standard Telephone Service, including a missed appointment, call us on :
  • 132200 (residential services)
  • 132000 (small business services)
• To make a service guarantee enquiry in relation to a fault on your Standard Telephone Service, including a missed appointment , call us on :
  • 132203 (residential services)
  • 132999 (small business services)
• TTY users can contact FREECALL ™1800 808 981* to make a service guarantee enquiry.

* A free call from fixed phones

Issue 4.1 April 14, 2004