Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Telstra Corporation Ltd

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) brought a case against Telstra Corporation Ltd, alleging misleading and deceptive conduct in relation to the promotion and supply of mobile telephone services on the Next G mobile telephone network. The ACCC argued that Telstra had made representations about the coverage and availability of the Next G network which were misleading, as they did not adequately disclose factors such as location, type of handset, and use of an external antenna.

The central legal issues before the court were whether Telstra's representations constituted misleading or deceptive conduct under the Australian Consumer Law, and if so, whether they were likely to mislead reasonable members of the public in relation to the availability and quality of coverage on the Next G network. The court had to consider whether Telstra's claims were accurate and whether they sufficiently disclosed all relevant factors affecting network coverage.

The court found that Telstra's representations were indeed misleading and deceptive, as they failed to disclose that coverage on the Next G network depended on location, type of handset, and whether an external antenna was used. The court held that these omissions could lead consumers to believe that they would always have consistent and superior coverage, which was not the case. The court further found that such misleading conduct was likely to affect consumers' decisions when choosing mobile services, thus breaching consumer protection laws. Consequently, the court issued orders to permanently restrain Telstra from making such representations without adequate disclosure and directed Telstra to pay the ACCC’s costs.