Interview with Kim Napier, ABC Northern Tasmania

KIM NAPIER, HOST: We've been hearing for months now about the strife some of you are having as Telstra works to shut down its 3G network. The carrier was planning to shut it down by the end of this month, but now they've pushed that out to the end of August, partly because they say there are still lots of people using the service. In fact, while the end of 3G has been flagged for years, there are apparently over half a million Australians with devices incompatible with the 4G network, according to the latest industry figures. But Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland says those figures are outdated. She joins me now. Good morning.
 
MICHELLE ROWLAND, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS: Good morning, Kim.
 
NAPIER: So, what are the revised figures?
 
ROWLAND: Kim, we know that at the beginning of this year, when we set up a Working Group for industry to actually start reporting and taking action to identify these devices, that the number was around 740,000 devices out there in the community.
 
And I should be very clear for your listeners: these are a particular subset of devices that have been configured by the manufacturer to operate perfectly fine on the 4G network, except when they are required to dial the Triple Zero emergency service. In those cases, they use 3G. And, as you can imagine, Kim, the problem here is that these users won't know that their device isn't working until they actually need it to operate.
 
We have been engaging with the industry to be able to get the message out to consumers because we support the switchover to 4G and 5G, but it really needs to be done in a safer way. This work has actually produced some results and we are now down to about 303,000 devices. It's still too high. But as you indicated, Telstra has pushed its switchover date back, which will be around the same time as Optus in the beginning of September. But there's still more work to do. But it is pleasing to see that those numbers are actually coming down.
 
NAPIER: We'll get to your visit to the State in April, but one of the biggest concerns for Tasmanians are the sheer number of mobile black spots. And I just want to read you a couple of texts that we've had: Tanya lives on the Northwest coast, she says making calls is frustrating as it constantly drops out and certain places in the house you can't even connect a call. Sarah says she lives in Latrobe, there are black spots there, some areas barely get a bar of service on the phone and it's the worst. If you need to take a call that's important, you can barely hear anything. And Bronwyn, from the centre of Ulverston, had to spend over $1,500 for an antenna and repeater to get phone service and be able to use data. Also, no choice for satellite or NBN for home internet. So, you can see that mobile black spots for Tasmania - that's just three of around 100 comments that we've had - is a big issue. So, anything being done there? Anything forthcoming to fix that?
 
ROWLAND: Well, absolutely. And when I was in Tasmania in April this year, that was really one of the key messages. And it's about the fact that we rely so much on our mobile services these days and we also rely on them during natural disasters. It's pleasing that we are making some progress in this area, but we know there's a lot more to do. We have been delivering, through our Mobile Black Spot Program, extra sites for Tasmania. But also through our resilience program, we've been delivering upgrades to make sure that during natural disasters they can stay on air for longer.
 
For your listeners, I would very much like to put out the call that we expect to open Round 8 of the Mobile Black Spot Program later this year. I urge your listeners to contact your local Member, contact your local Council and let them know these specific areas. And the reason for that is this is community-derived data feeds directly into the value for money assessments that my Department undertakes to determine where the investments should be provided. I'm very grateful for that. Feedback certainly reinforces what I heard directly on the ground in Tasmania only a few months ago. Also, the importance of making sure we can have those networks stay on air for longer during natural disasters is really important and making sure that our broadcasting networks can stay on air longer is important as well.
 
NAPIER: For sure. A colleague - when we knew we were talking about chatting with you - she lives ten minutes out of Launceston and it's a black spot. So, when you've got black spots ten minutes from a major city, there's a real problem, isn't there?
 
ROWLAND: There certainly is. And I think that for all Australians, particularly in regional areas, having mobile connectivity, it isn't a convenience or a nice to have - it really is essential these days. And again, exactly as you say, when you've got colleagues that might only be a few minutes out of a major area, that becomes also an issue during natural disasters, which is why we've been investing in what we call Mobile Network Hardening. And in Tasmania, we've allocated nearly $840,000 towards 47 projects. Part of this is to keep those networks on air for even a short time longer, because that can be the difference between life and death. But also during a recovery period from natural disasters. Listeners will unfortunately know that natural disasters are becoming more frequent and more intense and we should never let our guard down. It is something that we're investing in upfront for the unfortunate circumstance of when those natural disasters do arise.
 
NAPIER: Okay Minister, thank you for your time this morning. But in short, if you are in one of those black spot areas or have stories like the ones that we read from those messages, get in touch with your local Member.
 
ROWLAND: Thank you so much.