Taxpayers and telcos spend nearly $300 million a year to guarantee access to landlines and payphones, even though fewer and fewer people are using them.
One of the 14,400 public payphones Telstra is legally obliged to operate under a Universal Service Obligation that is now under review.On a hot and muggy Tuesday afternoon, people were out and about, and kids were cooling off in the local swimming pool when a "super-cell" storm struck with such force it flattened trees like pins in a bowling alley.
"Not having that communication, not knowing whether your family was all okay, if resources were on their way to assist."For the two days that followed, residents in Mirboo North — about a two-hour drive north of Melbourne – had no power and no telecommunication services. "The way the emergency services work is that they don't know what has happened unless we tell them," she said.
That's because Telstra is paid about $270 million a year to ensure all Australians have access to voice calls via "standard telephone services and payphones", regardless of where they live and work, under a legislated Universal Service Obligation . The telco must meet obligations regarding minimum service quality, fix faults and repair services within a specific time frame.In the digital age – in which 97 per cent of households have access to the NBN and 99.6 per cent of Australians are covered by at least one mobile network — the government is asking whether a fixed-line phone service is still the minimum Australians should expect.
For this reason, Ms Gebert believes it is time to update the USO to mandate access to voice services via a mix of landlines, payphones, mobile phones, fibre and fixed wireless NBN and low earth orbit satellites, like Starlink. "Instead, newer and more reliable technology such as wireless or satellite could be used in those areas for a better customer experience."
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