TasGRN was recognised in the Technology Platform Solution category of the awards for providing enhanced digital communication and vastly improved radio network coverage for Tasmania’s public safety and essential services personnel throughout the state.

Telstra and Motorola Solutions provide Tasmania’s emergency responders and government organisations with communications network to effectively respond to emergencies.

The network is built on a technology platform to provide a variety of additional capabilities for today and the future.

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These include broadband push-to-talk services enabling communication between radios, smartphones, and other devices as well as integration between existing communication centres’ operating systems and Motorola Solutions’ consoles.

“TasGRN enables Tasmania’s emergency services to manage increasingly complex operational requirements – from combating natural disasters, to dealing with the evolving security landscape and beyond,” said Motorola Solutions Australia and New Zealand vice president Con Balaskas.

“In addition to instant and interoperable communications across multiple government organisations, the network's managed services help keep all of TasGRN’s critical technology, infrastructure, features, and security up to date.”

According to the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), medical and safety equipment which rely on the 3G network must be upgraded before the shutdown on October 28, and the manufacturers of these devices and their agents must alert consumers to these changes.

“To ensure this occurs, the Therapeutic Goods Administration should put in place appropriate requirements, including strong penalties for non-compliance. The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency should also alert health professionals to the potential impact on consumers,” cautions ACCAN.

ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett said the recent delay to the shutdown of the 3G network was to be applauded, but there was growing concern that people were not being warned about the impact on medical devices.

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“Many people are simply unaware that devices like insulin pumps, heart rate monitors and personal safety alarms may all be impacted by the shutdown of 3G networks by Telstra and Optus. It is a major health risk,” Bennett said.

“Medical devices are poorly regulated in Australia, they fall far short of pharmaceutical regulation even though they involve implanting equipment into people’s bodies. This has led to some catastrophic failures historically around surgical mesh, breast implants and ASR hip implants.”

Bennett also said it was not acceptable for manufacturers to fail to maintain appropriate records or contact patients when there are device failures or at risk of failure.

“The Therapeutic Goods Administration should require medical device manufacturers and their agents to take urgent action to alert consumers to these changes and put in place penalties for non-compliance.” she said.

“The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) should also alert medical practitioners of the changes so they can ensure they can manage appropriate medical care where medical and safety equipment is being used to manage health conditions.

“ACCAN advocated successfully for a delay to the shutdown of Telstra and Optus 3G networks that was due at the end of August. It was concerned about the impact of the shutdown on medical devices but also the number of people that would no longer be able to use the phones to contact 000.”

Bennett noted: “The interim findings of the Senate Committee which looked into the 3G shutdown, released in August, found that up to 380,000 mobile phones may be unable to make regular calls or reach triple zero emergency services when the nation’s 3G networks was due to be switched off.”

 

In a statement, the ACCC said it will "not oppose the proposed regional mobile network and spectrum sharing agreements between Optus Mobile and TPG Telecom."

The regulatory body said it "considered the effects of the agreements on competition for retail and wholesale mobile services in Australia."

The ACCC found that the agreements are "unlikely to substantially lessen competition."

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“The agreements will allow TPG to provide better coverage in regional areas, which will likely enhance its ability to compete during the term of the agreements, improving choice for regional consumers," ACCC Commissioner Dr Philip Williams said.

“The agreements are also likely to support Optus’ regional 5G rollout, particularly through access to TPG’s spectrum,” Dr Williams added.

Optus and TPG Telecom proposed that the services will start in early 2025 and covers both 4G and 5G.

As reported by Australian media, the deal will cover three agreements. First, Optus will use TPG Telecom's spectrum in defined regional areas in the 700MHz, 1800MHz, 3600MHz, and 3700MHz bands.

Second, Optus will provide TPG with network services by active mobile network infrastructure sharing in certain regional areas.

Third, TPG will decommission most of its sites in the coverage areas or transfer them to Optus.

During the review, TPG and Optus proposed measures to improve mobile services in regional areas. They suggested to provide "open wholesale access to their networks, divest certain spectrum, and make obligations to undertake certain regional investments."

However, these proposals will not be made obligatory on either party.

“In the absence of particular competition concerns about the proposed arrangement, these proposals are better considered through other policy and regulatory processes," Williams said.

Both telcos announced in April they have announced an agreement that will "boost the regional mobile network and give customers more choice."

TPG Telecom and Telstra announced a mobile network and spectrum deal but was struck down by the ACCC in December 2022 and was blocked by the Australian Competition Tribunal in June 2023.

So, why did the ACCC favour TPG Telecom and Optus instead of Telstra?

The ACCC reasoned that the "proposed agreements are unlikely to substantially reduce infrastructure competition from TPG."

It noted that the "competition impacts of the agreements are likely to be limited to geographic areas where TPG is not currently a significant competitor and is unlikely to become one in the future."

“TPG currently has significantly less infrastructure and coverage in regional areas compared to Telstra and to a lesser extent Optus. The improvement in TPG’s services during the term of this arrangement is likely to be greater than what TPG could have achieved on its own,” Dr Williams said.

In an ASX filing, Inaki Berroeta welcomed ACCC's decision.

“Our regional network sharing arrangement will deliver better service and coverage to our five and a half million mobile customers who will gain access to around 600,000 square kilometres of new coverage, more than doubling the size of TPG Telecom’s national mobile network."

"The expansion of our regional mobile network will drive growth in our customer base in regional and metropolitan areas. It will allow us to win and retain customers in the cities who need reliable mobile service when they travel to the bush and customers in the regional areas looking for a different choice of provider," he said.

Optus interim CEO Michael Venter described the decision as a "great outcome" for regional Australia.

“By sharing our infrastructure and technology, Optus and TPG will be able to deliver even more choice and better services for regional customers."

“This arrangement will allow Optus to press the fast forward button on 5G infrastructure roll-out to more regional communities. It will also provide Optus with access to more spectrum so regional customers can experience 5G’s fast speeds, low latency, and increased capacity."

The BetStop is an Australian government initiative to block users from all licensed Australian online and phone gambling providers.

The ACMA said the register allows people to “self-exclude” for a minimum of three months up to a lifetime.

Of the 28,000 registrants, the ACMA gathered the following statistics:

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• Almost half were aged 30 and under, and around 80% were aged 40 and under.
• Around 40% have decided to self-exclude for life.
• Fewer than 20% of registrants chose the minimum period of three months.
• More than 14% have already extended or reactivated their self-exclusion period.

ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said that the register’s first year of operation has shown that Australians want help in managing their gambling behaviour.

“Online gambling can cause a great deal of harm to individuals, their families, and friends, so it’s encouraging that so many people have decided to take the step and register to self-exclude,” she said in a statement.

“Many people are also choosing to nominate someone to support them. Stopping online gambling can be a difficult decision to make – having someone to support you can make the decision much easier.”

“And many people are committing to long-term change, with a high percentage of people choosing to exclude for life,” O’Loughlin said.

Australians can register to self-exclude from online and phone wagering at www.betstop.gov.au.

Australian media reported that the rules will be implemented by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) under the direction of Communications Minister Michelle Rowland.

The rules stem from Optus' November 2023 outage, which affected 10.2 million customers, unable to make mobile calls or use NBN services.

Last April, CommsWire reported the government will begin to "implement a set of reforms and rules" to improve the emergency call service including a real-time network information during outages.

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At that time, Rowland said in a statement that the government will implement new rules mandating how, what and when telecommunications carriers communicate with their customers during and after a major outage."

Last week, Rowland introduced the Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages Industry Standards) Direction 2024, which requires the ACMA to "make new rules to ensure telcos keep customers informed and updated regarding major outages, for example, through website updates, email updates to customers, social media updates and radio and television news bulletins."

"The ACMA will also make rules to improve customer communications during significant local outages that are smaller in scale than major outages," she added.

Rowland said the telco industry will provide input into the development of the communication standards.

The Communications Minister also said ACMA would also review the existing Complaints Handling Industry Standard "to ensure complaints processes are effective for consumers in the context of network outages."

Communications consumer group ACCAN welcomed Michelle Rowland's announcement.

ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett said in a statement that the new industry standard is important because consumers need clear, concise, and timely information in the event of an outage.

"A telecommunications outage is extraordinarily difficult, disruptive, and dangerous. When we lose the connectivity which we rely on for work, study, basic transactions, health, and safety, consumers expect clear information so that they can take steps to manage the impact."

"An outage can be made worse if clear communication is not given by a telco as to what the problem is, what they are doing to solve the problem, the extent of the issue, and an estimated resolution timeframe," Bennett said.

"During the Optus outage last November, consumers and businesses were beyond frustrated by Optus' slow response to basic questions about the outage. This standard will help to prevent this from happening in the future by requiring telcos to act in a clear and timely manner."

The ACMA investigated 2GB’s Ben Fordham Live program and scrutinised comments made in a broadcast on 3 August 2023 that were “favourable” to ride-share company Uber.

The regulatory body discovered that a commercial agreement between Uber and the program host at the time of the broadcast was not disclosed.

In a separate investigation into 3AW Afternoons broadcasts that aired in August 2023, the ACMA learned that hosts made comments favourable to automotive manufacturer BMW without disclosing their commercial agreements.

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The ACMA said both stations “failed to publish details on their websites of commercial agreements made by their current affairs presenters, as is required by the commercial disclosure rules.”

Authority member Creina Chapman says adequately disclosing commercial agreements is crucial for transparency in current affairs programs.

“These kind of commercial disclosure breaches have the potential to erode the public’s trust in current affairs programming,” Chapman says.

“Listeners deserve to know what commercial agreements are in place and how those deals might relate to what they are hearing on-air.”

Following this incident, both stations have informed their affairs presenters, producers, and sales staff to undergo formal training on commercial disclosure requirements to comply with ACMA remediations.

The ACMA ordered 2GB to commission an external audit of the processes it has to comply with rules.

This additional measure has been put in place because 2GB previously breached disclosure rules in 2021.

The Australian Competition and Consumer C’ommission’ss latest domestic airline competition report atest domestic airline competition report shows improved conditions for consumers with declines in airfares, reduced cancellations and improved on time rates for flights over the first half of 2024.

“However, the ACCC cautions that consumers may miss out on the benefits of a more competitive domestic airline market if Rex is unable to re-commence its services between metropolitan cities,” the Commission notes, adding that “Rex continues to provide important connectivity to communities across 33 regional and remote routes and the government has announced that it will guarantee regional flight bookings for Rex customers throughout the voluntary administration process.”

The ACCC notes that the collapse of Bonza and withdrawal of Rex from routes between metropolitan cities means that, as of July 2024, no domestic route has more than two competing airline groups.

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“In June 2024, Rex had accounted for about five per cent of domestic passengers and flew 44 routes across 56 destinations in Australia.

“While Bonza and Rex provided relatively limited capacity on these metropolitan competing routes, the exit of both airlines on these routes may mean that consumers face higher airfares and reduced choice for domestic travel.”

“Consumers generally enjoy lower airfares where there is more competition on a route. With the suspension of Rex’s services between metropolitan cities, we are closely monitoring airfares and remain vigilant to any increases in prices on routes that Rex is no longer flying on,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.

The ACCC says that between November 2023 and April 2024, for the first time in Australia, there was a route with four competing airline groups (between Melbourne and the Gold Coast) - and in June 2024, routes serviced by three airline groups represented 50 per cent of domestic passengers.

“Compared to their 2019 levels, airfares on routes with increased competition have been lower than the broader domestic network in every month since February 2023, indicating that increased competition has resulted in lower airfares for consumers.

“A competitive aviation sector is important to all Australians and the ACCC remains engaged with stakeholders so that we can understand and protect competition in this sector., the Commission said.

“The concentrated nature of Australia’s domestic aviation industry reinforces the importance of the ongoing transparency and scrutiny we bring through our monitoring role,” Commissioner Brakey concluded.

Telecommunications Commissioner, Tristan Gilbertson, says the Commission is focused on ensuring Chorus continues to invest efficiently ahead of demand for the long-term benefit of Kiwi consumers.

“We want to see ongoing investment in world-class infrastructure but are conscious that any expenditure we approve ultimately flows through to the prices Kiwi consumers pay for fibre services.”

Commissioner Gilbertson said that Chorus has provided further evidence to satisfy the Commission that expenditure of $1.722 billion is prudent and efficient, resulting in an increase over the Commission’s draft decision, but $172.6 million of its proposed expenditure still failed that test.

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“This is the regime acting as it should to encourage ongoing investment, including in critical resilience initiatives, but guarding against unjustified expenditure that would be paid for by Kiwi consumers.”

The Commission notes that the importance of resilient infrastructure in the face of increasingly frequent and severe weather events was a key consideration during the consultation process and Mr Gilbertson emphasised a “robust and well-maintained fibre network is essential to New Zealand’s economy”.

“This is the first of two key decisions the Commission needs to make to set a new price-quality path – including maximum revenue and minimum quality standards – for Chorus as the country’s largest fibre network provider,” the Commission stated.

“The final decision on expenditure will be followed by a final decision on revenue and quality standards later in the year. Consultation on the draft revenue and quality standards is underway, with cross-submissions closing on 5 September 2024.”

By way of background the Commerce Commission notes:

Chorus proposed expenditure of $1.895 billion for the four years of the next regulatory period from 2025-2028 (adjusted to remove earlier proposed expenditure of $189.7 million on expanding its network – which it now proposes to do on a case-by-case basis using individual capex proposals).

The Commission reduced this to $1.59 billion (which was 16% or $301 million below Chorus’ proposal) in its draft decision in April on the basis that Chorus had failed to meet the “prudent and efficient” test in respect of the expenditure that had been excluded.

Chorus has subsequently provided further evidence that has led to approved expenditure increasing to $1.722 billion in today’s final expenditure decision. This is an increase of $128.4 million (or 8%) over the Commission’s draft decision but is $172.6 million (or 9%) below Chorus’ proposal.

New Zealand’s fibre networks were built by four regulated fibre wholesalers in partnership with the Government under its Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) initiative. The other three regulated fibre wholesalers are Enable Networks, Northpower Fibre and Tuatahi First Fibre (previously Ultrafast Fibre).

These networks are now regulated through a price-quality and information disclosure regime, introduced in 2022 following amendments to the Telecommunications Act. The regime has the long-term benefit of telecommunication end-users at its heart.

The Commission set Chorus’ first Price-Quality Path (PQP) for the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2024, on 16 December 2021. On 28 February 2023 the Commission determined the duration of Chorus’ second PQP as four years starting from 1 January 2025. The Commission is required to determine Chorus’ PQP for this second period before 1 January 2025.

The complaints were faults, poor service quality and mobile service coverage, outages, and accessibility barriers. These were logged by the TIO between 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2024.

The TIO reported consumers were complaining faults and service problems take longer to be resolved in regional locations.

The TIO added they may report faults without any improvements to their services.

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“Unlike people in metropolitan areas, regional consumers may have no choice but to depend on their landline or satellite service when there are no other options. Often, mobile coverage is poor in regional, rural, and remote areas in Australia,” the TIO found.

The TIO also found it problematic that some mobile service providers promise consumers that signals are strong in their area but when they return home, they have no service.

The mediation service body noted, “this can be dangerous for consumers living in areas at greater risk of bushfires, cyclones, floods, and other natural disasters.”

“Telecommunication services are essential services, as important to our health and way of life as the electricity and water in our homes. We rely on phone and internet services in emergencies, for work, banking, telehealth services, social cohesion – everything. We need a policy agenda that reflects the indispensable nature of telecommunications,” says Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert.

The TIO said satellite services may address connectivity issues for some consumers, but these services are highly dependent on weather conditions.

“The TIO’s complaint data shows consumers in regional areas continue to experience unreliable connections and service quality problems. Satellite is also a more expensive service type, and may not be affordable for all consumers,” it said.

The TIO urges that the telco regulatory framework needs to be updated to ensure regional consumers have reliable services.

Last year, the TIO made the same call, saying “the current rules in the telecommunications sector are no longer fit for purpose.”

It recommends:

One coherent, robust, and modern regulatory framework rather than the USO scheme, SIP regime, and CSG regime to offer standards for different services

The SIP regime should have clear benchmarks and standards so that consumers can seek compensation from a SIP

In reviewing the USO framework, the government should consider the essential nature of mobile services, to ensure the regulatory framework meets community expectations

Mobile coverage maps should be standardised, accessible to all consumers, and should include information about geographical location, quality of coverage, and data speeds.

First Nations consumers should be consulted on plans about how to help close the digital inclusion gap.

There needs to be an increased focus on mobile accessibility to improve connectivity for First Nations consumers living in regional areas.

While complaints in regional areas may take longer to be resolved, complaint numbers for Australian telcos declined this year, according to the latest Communications Alliance Complaints-in-Context Report.

Data shows there were 2.7 TIO complaints per 10,000 services in operation (SIO) on the networks of participating communications providers in the April to June 2024 quarter, CommsWire reported earlier this month.

This means that there was one complaint for every 3,704 services in operation.

The result was down from 3.1 complaints per 10,000 SIO in the previous quarter.

The modernisation of the council’s legacy telephony system had been a priority when the pandemic first began. However, the area’s aging copper-based telecommunications infrastructure and inconsistent mobile coverage have created doubts about the feasibility of such an upgrade.

The migration of terrestrial services from copper to fibre-based connections and the introduction of Starlink services for remote locations also came.

Then, following a series of high-rainfall events in 2022 and 2023, the need to “improve the telephony infrastructure” became even clearer, according to Kawerau District Council information services manager Andrew Bluett.

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“These events served to underscore the critical need for reliable communication in civil defence emergency management,” Bluett says.

In 2023, the council engaged BayCom, its technology partner to review a range of options. Following this evaluation, a decision was made in March 2024 to deploy Access4’s cloud-based voice platform.

BayCom worked to ensure the transition to Access4 was seamless by undertaking pre-configuration of the system and providing onsite support during the switch-over. All existing desk phones were replaced in a single day, with critical ones complemented with IVRs for customer service switched after-hours.

“It was clear from the trials that the Access4 platform had the capabilities to fully meet our requirements,” says Bluett. “The flexibility of being able to route calls over the public internet met our business continuity needs perfectly. The infrastructure is now live and supporting council’s 90 staff across 21 locations.”

Ease of use
Changed work patterns were introduced during the pandemic means an increased number of council staff spend at least some time working from home. Access4’s cloud-based voice platform ensures they remain contactable regardless of their working location.

“Our staff can simply unplug their desk phone, take it home or to another location, plug it into an Internet router, and continue their calls,” Bluett says.

Migration to the cloud
Switching to a cloud-based platform has allowed the council to remove existing rack-mounted telephony equipment.

“It has resulted in a significant reduction of equipment required in our server room,” Bluett says. “We also anticipate cost savings as a result of the transition.”

The council is also benefitting from the Access4 platform’s close integration with iCall Suite Call Reporting and live analytics. Previously, the organisation had relied on expensive add-on software for its on-premise PABX to report on call volumes or missed calls.

“Having access to powerful analytics and reporting has been a complete game-changer for us,” says Bluett. “Once you fully understand your organisation, you can ensure that resourcing is effective in the right areas and meets the needs of our rate payers.”

Kawerau District Council is located in the North Island’s Bay of Plenty region and serves approximately 2,700 residential, 250 commercial and industrial ratepayers as well as a number of rural and lifestyle properties.