Appendix 3Correspondence from the Committee Chair to the Minister for Communications
31 July 2024
The Hon. Michelle Rowland MP
Minister for Communications
Dear Minister
INQUIRY INTO THE SHUTDOWN OF THE 3G MOBILE NETWORK
As you may be aware, on 26 March 2024, the Australian Senate referred an inquiry into the shutdown of the 3G mobile network to the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee (the committee) for inquiry and report by 30 November 2024. On behalf of the committee, I am writing to urge that the shutdown of the 3G mobile network be postponed.
At a recent hearing in Cooma, the committee heard that there are nearly one million active devices that will cease to function once the 3G network is closed (including close to 380000 mobile devices). The committee is alarmed that many consumers are not aware that they may not be able to contact emergency services once the network closes.
The committee has heard that work remains ongoing to properly prepare the Australian telecommunications sector and the community for the shutdown of the 3G mobile network. There is still much work to complete in the limited time left.
The committee is particularly concerned that the number of 3G non-mobile devices remains unknown. These devices span industries including health, security, surveying, agriculture, personal medical alerts, and safety and asset tracking equipment. It would not be prudent to shut down the network without properly understanding the risks to small business, health and safety. The committee is also concerned about the large number of devices in use that will no longer connect to triple zero services once the network closes.
The committee acknowledges and commends the efforts of mobile network operators in proactively reaching out to owners of affected devices to advise them of the impending shutdown. The committee also acknowledges the work that you (and your predecessor) and the department have undertaken since 2019 to monitor and respond to issues in the lead-up to the scheduled shutdown and notes that the majority of mobile users will be unaffected.
However, the full extent of non-mobile devices that could be impacted is not yet clear. For example, the department had only contacted the elevator industry to check if the emergency phones in elevators would continue to work in the week of our Senate hearing. While this is just one example, these issues raise the question of what other devices that we do not know about which could be impacted.
We acknowledge that there have been significant recent efforts to alert mobile phone users on whether they could be impacted. However, the full extent of the mobile phones impacted by the shutdown only became apparent six months ago. We do not believe this is a reasonable amount of time for consumers to become aware that their phone may not work and to take steps to replace it.
The committee has also written to both Telstra and Optus, urging them to voluntarily extend the scheduled shutdown dates so that the concerns raised by the committee and community can be properly addressed.
However, should Telstra and Optus not voluntarily postpone the shutdown, the committee notes that it is within your power as the Minister to place conditions on the carriers by making a declaration specifying conditions for the shutdown of the 3G network similar to the Carrier Licence Conditions (Telstra Corporation Limited) Declaration 1997. There are precedents for such an intervention to be made. For example, in 1997, the Minister for Communications intervened to place conditions on Telstra during the transition from 1G to 2G, and again in 2007 during the transition from 2G to 3G.
The committee intends to table an interim report for the inquiry into the shutdown of the 3G mobile network tomorrow (Thursday, 1 August 2024) recommending that the shutdown be postponed until you are satisfied that conditions that address the concerns of the committee and the community have been met. The priority must be to make every reasonable effort to contact affected consumers, to identify the number and type of devices likely to be impacted, and to assist consumers with the migration and upgrade of these devices rather than meet an arbitrary deadline. In our view, this is a situation in which it is better to be safe than sorry.
The committee appreciates your urgent consideration of this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Senator the Hon Matt Canavan
Chair
