Regional MPs have lent support to allowing Australians to connect to any mobile phone tower no matter which service provider they use, a shift opposed by telcos that advocates say would drive economic activity.
Indi MP and prominent independent Helen Haines said staying connected across vast distances was critical to the social and economic success of modern regional communities.
Indi MP Helen Haines says staying connected across vast distances is critical to the social and economic success of modern regional communities.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
People in north-eastern Victoria were often with providers not serviced in their local area, causing angst during natural disasters, stymieing economic activity, and worsening the experience of tourists, she wrote in a submission to a federal parliamentary inquiry examining how to boost mobile phone connectivity in non-urban areas of Australia.
The NSW, South Australian and Northern Territory governments have all made submissions to the inquiry complaining about poor social and economic outcomes caused by single-carrier mobile towers, which create patchy reception because some areas are serviced by towers that customers of only one provider, often Telstra, can use.
Nationals leader David Littleproud accused Telstra, which opposes mandated mobile roaming, of corporate greed, saying many Australians would be willing to pay about $5 extra a month for the service boost.
“You go overseas and you’ll roam with a company and go anywhere with the phone. It’s insane in a country like this, as big as we are and dispersed as we are, that we’re not using this,” he told this masthead.
The Australia Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in 2018 recommended against mandated roaming on the basis that companies could be discouraged from building more mobile towers in regional areas – where they have fewer customers and diminished profits – if customers of all service providers could use the same tower.
In its submission, the NSW government said some people in the state subscribed to two mobile service providers and had two mobile numbers to maintain coverage.
Littleproud argued the ACCC – whose officials he said were “sitting in their air-conditioned office tower in Sydney” and lacked focus on real-world experiences – should re-examine the issue in its ongoing review of regional mobile infrastructure.
Mandated roaming is not explicitly mentioned in the terms of reference of the parliamentary inquiry. A committee source not authorised to speak publicly said it would hear evidence from all quarters and consider any suggestions to improve mobile coverage.
David Littleproud says the ACCC should re-examine the issue in its ongoing review of regional mobile infrastructure.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
It is also considering whether roaming should be mandated during natural disasters. A NSW government inquiry into last year’s floods found some communities were unable to request rescues or communicate with family and friends.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the government’s $2.2 billion investment in regional telecommunications was one of the biggest since the National Broadband Network.
“As I travel around regional Australia, it is clear that the Coalition failed regional businesses, households and communities after nine years in government,” she said.
RMIT university associate professor Mark Gregory, a leader in the field of telecommunications, said the federal government had an opportunity to enact a reform as significant as the NBN if it forced telcos to allow roaming.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
A recent study by Gregory found data speeds in eight rural towns with large First Nations populations were, on average, 90 per cent slower than in the city.
He said Telstra would not voluntarily give up its ability to spruik exclusive coverage in many parts of Australia.
“If the ACCC was making the decision, the NBN would never have happened,” he said, weeks after the competition watchdog blocked a merger between Telstra and TPG Telecom that would have given TPG access to 3700 Telstra towers.
“The same thing happened in New Zealand. They had two inquiries – in both, the telcos made strong submissions against roaming, but the government decided to ignore them and mandate roaming because they put the consumer first. Telcos won’t co-operate until they are forced to. That’s the history of the industry since deregulation.”
A Telstra spokeswoman said mandated mobile roaming would deliver poor outcomes and reduce the incentive to innovate.
Optus’ vice-president for regulatory and public affairs, Andrew Sheridan, did not directly answer a question on mandated roaming but said Optus had invested heavily in regional Australia and was committed to a competitive sector.
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