cities tackle telstra over billboards, 5g - digital billboard

A battle between Telstra and the city council of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane is brewing as telco uses paid phones as digital billboards and skyboxes.
Sydney Mayor Clover Moore is expected to call on the federal government to ban the country's largest telecom company from adding big screen ads and 5g of small cells to its booths.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Council will also be asked to determine whether Telstra's use of paid phones in commercial advertising is counter-productive. competitive.
"It's really just a cash grab," Sydney Liberty MP Craig Zhong told AAP . ".
"This adds to the chaos on the streets and has not considered planning.
"Under the law, Telstra is obliged to provide reasonable paid telephone access for standard telephone services.
But it has recently started upgrading the site, including 75-
Inch LCD screen.
Cr Chung said that the council passed a motion on Monday night, involving Telstra's obligation to "install unnecessary and unapproved infrastructure" with support from Brisbane and Melbourne.
March city has rejected 81 applications from advertising giant JCDecaux to allow commercial ads to be broadcast on the pay phone screen.
Telstra also went to the Victorian court to block telco by bypassing the planned approval to install more upgraded pay phones.
"These new structures are more like digital billboards disguised as phone booths on our city's sidewalks," Melbourne MP Nicholas Reese said at the time . ".
Sydney is also expected to call on the federal government to force approval of plans for all 5g small communities.
Antenna boxes are currently considered "low impact" for enhancing 4g connectivity in the CBD area, but will be widely used for 5g networks.
Any change could slow the launch of new networks being built by Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.
Cr Chung wants all committees to be allowed to install "operator-independent" 5g technology to prevent small cells of multiple telecom companies from "disrupting our public domain and Street landscape ".
"Let's remember that this is how our entire digital world works," he said . "
"We don't talk anymore about the copper wire that runs along the pipe in the street.
Telstra said any use of the screen for commercial advertising would require approval from Sydney.
"Our vision for the new paid phone is to ensure that the technology provided to all users in Sydney is comparable to other major cities such as New York City and Tokyo, which it said in a statement on Tuesday.