Push for Senate inquiry into poor phone access in SA’s Outback

A parliamentary inquiry into telecommunications is needed to stop businesses and isolated Far North residents going weeks without a working phone line, William Creek’s publican says — and he’s been backed by a local MP.

Wrightsair and William Creek Hotel owner Trevor Wright says an urgent fix is needed to deal with unreliable phone service in SA’s Outback. Picture: Tricia Watkinson.

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A parliamentary inquiry into telecommunications is needed to stop businesses and isolated Far North residents going weeks without a working phone line, William Creek’s publican says.

And he’s being backed by Giles MP Eddie Hughes, Labor’s primary industries spokesman, who says he will lobby for a Senate inquiry.

Residents and businesses around Coober Pedy and its surrounding towns, say poor landline and mobile phone coverage — offered by a range of telcos — was holding businesses back and risking people’s safety.

Trevor Wright, who owns the William Creek Hotel and scenic and charter flight specialist Wrightsair, said poor phone reliability was the biggest issue facing people living in isolated Outback areas.

Landlines often went down for weeks at a time, and the issue was compounded by a lack of mobile coverage.

“Telstra, in my opinion, are getting away with not fulfilling their duties because the Outback by nature is so remote and especially during the harsh summer can be a dangerous environment,” Mr Wright said.

“With emergency services, it’s a huge issue and also for stations. There needs to be an Upper House inquiry.”

John Knight, owner of Evelyn Downs cattle station, 180km north of Coober Pedy, said over the last five years, his property had lost its landline service 40 or 50 times “out of the blue”.

“We have lots of infrastructure problems here and we do accept that we’re isolated,” Mr Knight said.

“(But) service providers have no concept of isolation.

“When it’s 45C and we’re running stations by ourselves without a phone, it’s ludicrous.”

Mr Knight and his partner Caroline Thomas came into trouble about three years ago when their car got bogged 25km from home, in the 38C heat.

“That was five o’clock on Christmas Eve and we weren’t going to see anyone for days,” Mr Knight said.

Their satellite phone could not get a signal, so Mr Knight walked about 15km in a bid to get help.

Exhausted, he fell asleep but was eventually picked up by a neighbour after Ms Thomas finally received a signal on the satellite phone.

Coober Pedy Retail, Business and Tourism Association event co-ordinator Gai Di Donna said poor phone reception was also inhibiting businesses.

Giles MP Eddie Hughes said he would speak to his federal colleagues to push for a Senate inquiry into the issue.

Telstra regional general manager for SA Mark Bolton said it was difficult to provide phone coverage in remote Australia because of distance, terrain and the high cost of servicing small populations.

“Telstra is committed to restoring faults as quickly as possible in these challenging locations,” Mr Bolton said.

He said the two longest outages in the area last year were for eight and 10 days.

“The first was due to a lightning strike damaging equipment and the second was due to an airconditioner failure in a heatwave also resulting in equipment damage,” Mr Bolton said.

As part of the Universal Service Obligation to provide landline services in remote locations, the company must fix outages within three days, in at least 90 per cent of cases.

Across the country, Telstra had exceeded that target over the past five years.

It had also invested $8 billion to improve its mobile network.

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