The Hon Michelle Rowland MP
Minister for Communications
Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred wreaked havoc on Australia’s east coast, leaving hundreds of thousands of people, homes and businesses without power.
When the power goes down, phone connectivity follows. Base stations rely on back-up batteries or generators which have a limited life.
Labor’s universal outdoor mobile coverage will provide a simple public safety connectivity solution to this.
Our Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation – or UOMO – will give new outdoor coverage across almost all of our vast continent.
This is possible because mobile companies can now leverage the latest generation of Global Low Earth Orbit Satellites (LEOSats) to help connect mobile phones.
This means people have expanded options to contact Triple Zero when networks are down, and in areas that don’t have mobile phone reception.
Whether you are facing a natural disaster, broken down on a highway, injured on the farm, or lost in the bush, under UOMO there will be outdoor mobile coverage nearly anywhere Australians can see the sky.
Earlier this year, from Los Angeles, we saw this capability in action. As the highly destructive and deadly wildfires struck, hundreds of thousands of messages were sent using low orbit satellites and unmodified 4G phones.
In the depths of the crisis, LA residents were able to text loved ones, neighbours, and, most importantly, emergency services.
Yet, the Coalition rushed to mindlessly oppose Labor’s policy despite overwhelming, and growing support from a wide range of stakeholders.
This includes consumer groups, the National Farmers Federation, regional councils from Queensland to Victoria, Better Internet for Rural, Regional and Remote (BIRRR), and the NSW Rural Fire Service.
These Abbott-era tactics are a throwback to a Coalition who oppose everything and stand for nothing.
The Albanese Government will not leave Australians to fend for themselves when it comes to public safety connectivity.
And we will fill the giant mobile black spot – around 70 per cent of Australia’s land mass – that simply cannot be addressed through mobile tower deployment across our vast continent.
New satellite technology is not a replacement for land mobile networks and the need to keep investing, but rather a complement.
The Albanese Government remains committed to programs which support investment in terrestrial networks.
More than 300 projects have been delivered under the Mobile Black Spot and Regional Connectivity programs under our watch, helping carry more than 43 million calls, including 48,000 emergency calls.
More than 900 projects have also been delivered to improve the resilience of telecommunications infrastructure.
Labor will introduce legislation for UOMO in 2025, with implementation by the end of 2027. Many Australians will likely benefit before this as the mobile phone operators start to roll out SMS followed by voice calls.
Our initial focus is on the continent-wide emergency contact capability. Basic mobile data will be considered in the future as technology develops.
Mobile carriers all want to take advantage of these new and emerging technologies, and the Albanese Government wants to support this momentum.
Our longer-term interest is to help facilitate a competitive outdoor mobile coverage market for the benefit of Australian consumers.
And we are examining incentives to support satellite and mobile operators to deliver out public interest and competitive objectives.
Whether its Medicare, superannuation or the National Broadband Network, Labor has a proud history of expanding universal access to essential services and enablers of equity and prosperity.
UOMO is the next important piece of connectivity architecture that gives life to these values.
Australians are proud and early adopters of technology, and we are ambitious to leverage this advantage as part of building a better future.
The biggest risk to this progress is a Liberal-National Coalition always inventing new ways to take Australia backwards, as they did with copper broadband.
Now is not a time for thinking small, looking back, or aiming low.
This is a time to lean-in to opportunities and forge ahead in Labor’s mission to make Australia the most connected continent.
The Albanese Government is doing this with one eye on the sky, and the other watching out for what’s best for all Australians – regardless of who – or where – they are.
MEDIA CONTACT: SUSANNA DUNKERLEY
M: 0455 035 879 E: Susanna.Dunkerley@mo.communications.gov.au