Cape York locals furious after Pivotel, Thuraya satellite outage

After rescuing a man trapped in a car and fighting spot fires on his own, a Cape York resident has called on satellite companies to provide better support for remote customers.

After rescuing a man trapped in a car and fighting spot fires on his own, a Cape York resident has called on satellite companies to provide better support for remote customers.

Cape York resident Jason Clarke has not been able to contact the outside world for more than 100 days, after his satellite phone service Pivotel, which is connected to satellite company Thuraya, stopped working in April this year.

“I’ve got a personal safety device to rely on to ring 000 because we’re just left in the lurch,” Mr Clarke said.

Australian customers using satellite communications system Pivotel have been left without service since April, including to call 000, after a satellite breakdown.

Mr Clarke said he had to help rescue people from car wrecks, including a man who spent a night trapped upside down in his car and in a separate crash helped a man and three kids, one of whom was seriously injured.

Cape York resident Jason Clarke has not been able to contact the outside world for more than 100 days, after his satellite phone service Pivotel, which is connected to satellite company Thuraya, stopped working in April this year.

“One of the kids had a punctured lung and we had to drive him to someone’s place to call the air ambulance,” he said.

“There’s no fire brigade or ambulance up here and there’s no communication even though we come across 30 or 40 accidents a year. We’re fed up.”

Mr Clarke said he had to drive four hours to the Palmer River Roadhouse every fortnight to catch up on emails and phone calls.

“I’ve spent over $4000 on the satellite system and equipment only to find out the satellite the company was using was two years out of date,” he said.

“Anyone that travels outside Mareeba heading north all have satellite systems and possibly wouldn’t know the system’s not working until it’s too late and they lose it.

“If this was Telstra or Optus in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, there’d be outrage the next day, but we’ve had to go (more than) 125 days with no communications and can’t call triple-0.”

GCB PICTURE – Iridium NEXT satellite. Southport-based Pivotel uses the Iridium satellite network

A Pivotel Australia and New Zealand spokesman confirmed the Thuraya Mobile Satellite Communications Company, which leases satellites to Pivotel, had ceased its service due to a “Force Majeure Event.”

“On April 16, 2024, Thuraya services in Australia became unavailable on the T3 satellite,” the spokesman said.

“Thuraya has worked exhaustively with the satellite manufacturer to recover services on the T3 satellite.

“Thuraya has now determined it is unable to recover the services in Australia using the T3 Satellite and has declared a Force Majeure Event.”

According to the Pivotel website, this means customers will no longer be able to make and receive calls, SMS or data using the Pivotel Thuraya service, or emergency calls to triple-0.

Pivotel and Thuraya have offered refunds to affected customers.

Originally published as Cape York locals furious after Pivotel, Thuraya satellite outage