MEMBER for Mallee Andrew Broad has called on Telstra to use its fixed-line phone savings to help improve mobile reception for grain farmers.
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Mr Broad told Parliament on Monday that Telstra was saving up to $100 million thanks to the National Broadband Network’s plan to replace landline phones.
“Right across the electorate of Mallee we have had a wonderful harvest. There is grain everywhere. We are now harvesting the table grapes,” Mr Broad said.
“One thing that was evident across the harvest was people's inability to make a mobile phone call.
“This is a safety issue; this is a tourism issue; this is about people wanting to access data whilst they are trying to sit there and get their harvest off.”
Mr Broad accused Telstra of contributing to the problem by not building mobile phone towers off its own bat in Mallee.
“The argument that Telstra puts forward that they have to make a profit in the city, and therefore they are going to build towers in the bush does not ring true,” Mr Broad said.
“If I look across the electorate of Mallee, which is a third of the state of Victoria, I see they have not built a tower there in four years that has not been subsidised by the Mobile Phone Black Spot Program.
“Their argument does not ring true, and I think it is time that we ripped the bandaid off.”
In response, Telstra said the Mallee electorate was an example of how the black spot program had succeeded, with 15 new towers installed.
NBN’s plan is to replace landline phones after about two years in areas that receive fixed-line, fibre-to-the-node internet.
As Horsham’s fibre-to-the-node rollout is due to start soon, traditional landline phones are due to transition in 2019 to a similar service provided through the NBN.
Mr broad said Telstra should use the federal government money it receives to guarantee landline and payphone connections to improve the rural mobile network.
“Telstra received $297 million as part of the universal service obligation,” Mr Broad said.
“This has largely been superseded with the rollout of NBN- where people are not requiring a fixed line to their house any more—and I think that we should take the hundred million dollars that the federal government contributes to the universal service obligation and put that into the Mobile Phone Black Spot Program.
“Telstra is receiving $44 million for payphones annually– 16,800 payphones that are usually vandalised, and are not used anymore because they are antiquated technology.”
Telstra area general manager Steve Tinker said the company was open to changing the universal service obligation but many of its landline responsibilities would continue for years.
“The universal service obligation ensures that no matter where someone lives or works, they can get a reliable landline phone service,” he said.
“That’s a vital service for many people in regional, rural and remote areas. Telstra is the single largest funder of the service obligation, providing nearly half of the funding, $140 million, each year.
“We are open to reforming the way the service works, provided that changes help deliver a better outcome for regional customers.
“NBN may be in a position to take on responsibility for the service obligation, but it will not be in a position to do this until it has finished rolling out its network, which isn’t expected to happen until 2020.”
Mr Broad also called for telecommunications companies such as Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone to work together so all their customers could share the same towers in regional areas.
Mr Tinker said opening up each other’s networks, known as regulated roaming, would harm rural mobile customers in the long run.
“Strong competition is what drives companies like Telstra to invest in building the best mobile network,” he said.
“We have a long history of investment to expand world leading services in regional and remote Australia, including new technology and more base stations but imposing regulated roaming would put this ongoing investment under threat.
“The problem with regulated roaming is that it would completely undermine regional and remote investment.”
Mr Tinker said the Country Women’s Association, the Isolated Children’s Parents Association and regional and rural councils had told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that they did not support regulated roaming.
The federal government’s mobile black spot program has seen towers activated at Sheep Hills and Kalkee last year.
Wartook, Laharum and Yaapeet have been added to the list of future tower locations.