Central Highlands residents unhappy with Telstra upgrades

Central Highlands residents and visitors say they are still waiting for adequate mobile phone service despite a Telstra upgrade to 4G in early February.

Remote landowners, anglers and emergency services are particularly worried about the impact of poor telecommunications.

Telstra’s recent major network upgrades in the Central Highlands has made no noticeable improvement, said Great Lake Fire Brigade chief Colin Triffitt.

Temporary shutdowns while works were done in January affected Miena and surrounding areas but the pain was endured with the promise of improved 4G capacity and reliability.

Telstra said it aimed to improve capacity by 300 per cent, but residents have reported ongoing intermittent coverage, on some days even worse coverage than before, promoting safety concerns when emergency calls won’t go through.

“In my opinion and from those I’ve spoken to, it has not improved our ability to make calls,” Mr Triffitt said.

“Not only were we left without coverage at all for four days during the upgrade, but the upgrade was about increased capacity, not extra coverage, which we need to places like Bronte Park.”

Mr Triffitt said that when people wanted to check on a sick volunteer paramedic on Highlands Lake Rd, no one could get through.

“Not everyone wants to spend extra money on upgrading their phone or signing up to expensive satellite services – but even if they did, that’s only good when you’re on Wi-Fi at home – not when you’re out in your car and come across a fire or car accident.”

In Parliament on March 4, Liberal Senator Wendy Askew accused Federal Labour of screening calls from members of the Central Highlands community and refusing to take their concerns seriously regarding intermittent phone and internet coverage.

“Residents have been consistently raising these concerns for many months, particularly since a public meeting was held at Miena in November last year, attended by more than 100 people,” she said.

Senator Askew wrote to Communications Minister Anika Wells in November following the meeting to raise concerns.

“Communities in the Central Highlands deserve to have their concerns taken seriously,” she wrote.

In response, the minister said: “I appreciate the concerns of residents about poor mobile coverage in the Central Highlands area, particularly during severe weather events and following the 3G switch-off.

“As you may be aware, Telstra, Optus and TPG Telecom each made a commercial decision to switch off their 3G networks to free up radio-frequency spectrum and boost the capacity, speed and reliability of their 4G and 5G networks.

“Prior to switching off their 3G networks, Telstra and Optus committed to ensuring that locations with 3G in their published coverage areas would have equivalent 4G coverage. The Government has stressed to the carriers that the benefits of the 3G switch-over need to be demonstrated.

We continue to monitor concerns about coverage and impacts of the switch over.”

Meanwhile, new macro mobile sites are currently being delivered at Symmons Plains Raceway, Deddington, Royal George and Lake Leake, and a small cell site is being commissioned at St. Peter's Pass.

Upgrades to deliver backup in the event of outages are also underway in Longford, Symmons Plains, Cressy, Mt Blackwood, Dicks Bank, Mt Augusta and Tunbridge Tier, while a macrocell project at Delmont has begun to reduce blackspots.

The latest telecommunications reforms have been initiated through the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation – an election commitment that claims it will deliver basic mobile coverage almost anywhere Australians can see the sky.

Federal Member for Lyons Rebecca White said the reforms and new investments would make a real difference for her constituents.

“For too long, Tasmanians in regional areas have been held back and left behind by poor mobile coverage,” she said.