A recommendation to remove the mandate for every household to have a telephone landline is ignoring the needs of people in rural and remote communities, according to the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association state council.
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Communications portfolio leader Andrew Pegler said the group held grave concerns for its constituents if Productivity Commission recommendations around the telecommunications universal service obligation were implemented.
The report has recommended that the USO be abolished, which in simple terms means there will be no entitlement for homes to have a fixed landline.
Mr Pegler said it ignored the effect such a change could have on rural children’s education and was a real concern for people needing to contact emergency services at all times.
The cost of providing the USO was the reason given for the recommendation, according to Mr Pegler, saying it identified it could be too expensive to provide a home phone and too expensive to repair landlines.
“So it’s too expensive to keep the people of rural and remote Australia connected to basic services like emergency services and education facilities,” he commented.
“The alternative suggested is the use of mobile phones. Unfortunately over 70 per cent of Australia doesn’t have mobile phone coverage.
“Where there’s none, it is suggested that nbn satellite would be the phone provider. This ignores weather-related or power supply problems that interrupt satellite communications, a common occurrence.”
Mr Pegler said the draft report quoted 99.7 per cent satellite reliability, which was much higher than quoted by the provider, nbn, and was totally out of touch with the experiences of people who are using it.
“Exacerbating this is nbn’s target times for repairs in isolated areas of 90 days.
“The 2015 Australian government Regional Telecommunications Infrastructure Review Committee report acknowledged that the current nbn Sky Muster satellites would not meet the future needs of consumers.
“The question needs to be asked then, why would standard telephones be abolished if there are no reliable alternatives?”
Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association representatives will be appearing before the Productivity Commission public hearing in Cairns on Thursday to argue its case.
The Cairns hearing is the only one scheduled for Queensland. No hearings have been set for the Northern Territory, but people are able to make a presentation by telephone to the Melbourne sitting set down for February 8.
Sally Gall
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
Based at Blackall, CW Qld, where I've raised a family, run Merino sheep and beef cattle, and helped develop a region - its history, tourism, education and communications. Get in touch at 0427 575 955 if you've got a story idea for me.
