Sydney, Australia

An Australian court has ordered three telecom companies to pay A$33.5 million ($22.08 million) in fines for making false news regarding the speed of NBN internet plans.

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According to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), the country's federal court fined Optus, Singapore's Telecommunications A$13.5 million and ordered Telstra to pay A$15 million. Further, a unit of TPG Telecom has also been ordered to pay A$5 million.

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The ACCC claimed that the false and deceptive statements regarding their 50 or 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) fibre to the node plane were made at least 12 months in the year 2019 and some believe that it might have continued till 2020. 

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The three telecom companies have admitted in the court of providing false or misleading claims which might have affected nearly 120,000 subscribers. 

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In a statement, Telstra admitted that from April 2019 to April 2020, it was unable to fully check the highest achievable speed of the NBN services of nearly 48,000 individuals. The company said, "We've gone through an extensive remediation and refund process. We've also taken a number of steps to ensure we better meet our regulatory obligations." 

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However, in response to the issues raised, representatives of TPG and Optus told Reuters that they have sent separate emails mentioning that they have modified their systems and procedures. Optus said that it will personally get in touch with its customers who qualify for remediation. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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