Australia sues Telstra for not informing customers of downgrade in internet speed

Australian competition regulator on Tuesday took the country's top telecom firm Telstra Corp to court for failing to inform some customers about downgrading the upload speed of its broadband plan.

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) initiated the lawsuit in the Federal Court, alleging it downgraded broadband upload speed for nearly 9,000 residential customers in October and November 2020 without informing them or lowering its charges.

The regulator alleged that the affected customers had opted for Telstra's cheaper broadband offering, Belong, between May 2017 and October 2020. While around 2,500 customers were remediated with a one-off A$90 credit after Telstra acknowledged the error in early-2021, it is yet to inform more than 6,300 customers of the downgrade to their maximum upload speed, the ACCC alleged.

"In these circumstances, we are seeking a Court order requiring Telstra to pay compensation to consumers who, we allege, did not get the service they signed up for," ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver said.

Telstra did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.