Australia Post trucks would be used to find mobile signal blackspots under Labor’s plan to conduct a $20m independent audit of mobile coverage if it wins the federal election.
Speaking at a National Farmers’ Federation conference on Tuesday, the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, unveiled the party’s regional telecommunications policy, including fitting mobile signal measurement devices on Australia Post trucks.
A centrepiece of the Coalition communications policy since 2013 has been the mobile blackspots program, with $380m invested and over 414,000 sq km of new coverage delivered as of February this year.
The government’s existing program has operated on an application and grant basis. However, Labor’s policy would use data collected from the Australia Post trucks on coverage, call reliability and data availability for the three carriers – Optus, Telstra and Vodafone – to determine the best locations to upgrade.
A trial of similar technology is under way in Austria, using Austria Post’s 8,000 vehicles and technology supplied by Ranlytics to measure 3G and 4G mobile connectivity on highways and main arterial roads, with plans to also test 5G.
Mobile coverage blackspots outside metropolitan areas were a key complaint to the 2021 regional telecommunications review. While telcos say 99.5% of the population are covered by mobile networks, this equates to just 33% of Australia’s land mass and the committee raised concerns about the accuracy of the measurement.
“Indeed, the committee has continued to hear of persistent mobile blackspots in many regional, rural and remote areas, particularly outside of regional centres, towns and transport corridors,” the report stated.
“This includes places like farming homesteads, local roads and national parks where there is demand for reliable mobile coverage to support productivity and public safety.”
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service told the committee it was concerned at the number of blackspots often with limited internet or just 3G coverage, stating it “has caused significant stress for many residents and put … stress on emergency operations.”
In the Morrison government’s response to the regional telecommunications review, it said independent audits of mobile coverage would be commissioned in 2022-23 and 2023-24, with the government considering “crowdsourcing” data on mobile network coverage and performance.
In the federal budget last week, the communications minister, Paul Fletcher, announced $418m in new funding for regional connectivity, including addressing blackspots covering 8,000km of roads and nearby properties.
Labor has pledged $400m for a fund for mobile connectivity on roads, regional homes and businesses that will be assessed by Infrastructure Australia, subject to community consultation.
Labor has also promised $200m for improving regional and peri-urban connectivity through mobile and fixed line internet upgrades and has promised $30m to connect farms, and farming technology.
“This is a comprehensive, targeted plan that will ensure better mobile coverage on roads, on farms and across regional communities, and better broadband too,” Albanese said.
“This is critical to modern agriculture and making sure Australian farms are as efficient and competitive as they can be.”
Vodafone said initiatives to improve mobile coverage are “welcome and overdue”.
“The need for a better-connected regional Australia is a must, not a nice-to-have,” a Vodafone spokesperson said.
Guardian Australia has sought comment from Telstra and Optus.
