PHOTO: The Cobar Telstra Tower situated behind the post office. Photo: Emma Datson.
Unreliable mobile phone coverage in regional and remote Australia was the subject of the latest round of public hearings held in May and June as a federal parliamentary committee continues to investigate regional mobile phone infrastructure services in the bush.
However, regional communities may be wondering why an inquiry with a focus on regional and remote services is holding their public hearings in major centres like Adelaide, Alice Springs, Perth, Canberra, Sydney and Geelong.
Since late last year, the House of Representatives’ Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts has been looking at “the experience, opportunities and challenges for co-investment in multi-carrier regional mobile infrastructure.”
Poor mobile reception is experienced outside every regional town and city in the country, impacting families, businesses and communities.
It is a serious issue and this inquiry is slanted towards increasing competition as a way to improve mobile service infrastructure – possibly skirting the wider regional community concerns about connectivity.
With this inquiry the latest in a long list of public investigations into these issues over the last few years, it is unsurprising that only 37 submissions were received from across the country. Of those, just five submissions were made by individuals…