Telstra will pay $18 million in fines and $2.3 million in compensation to Belong customers whose NBN services had the upload speeds cut in late 2020.
The mass downgrade, which saw customers moved from 100/40Mbps to 100/20Mbps plans, caught the attention of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission some two years later, resulting in court action.
The Federal Court has now ruled the downgrade, which impacted almost 9000 customers, breached Australian Consumer Law.
The issue was that the upload speed change was not communicated to customers.
“Telstra’s failure to inform customers that their broadband service had been changed denied them the opportunity to decide whether the changed service was suitable for their needs,” ACCC commissioner Anna Brakey said in a statement.
Customers that qualify for remediation, in the form of “a credit or payment of $15 for each month the customer had been on the lower upload speed plan”, will be contacted by email.
Telstra will also contribute to the ACCC’s legal costs.
The reasons for the Court’s judgment are to be published at a later date.
A Telstra spokesperson has been contacted for comment.
