GRIEVANCES over shoddy mobile network coverage continue to grow in regional communities, but you would not know it judging by the public policy.
Despite widespread frustration among voters and industry, status quo solutions were again endorsed by the the federal government and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
But even the government’s supporters acknowledge that new solutions are needed. The question is, where will the answers come from?
The recent federal budget allocated a fresh injection of $60m to fund round three of the Mobile Black Spot Program, in addition to the $160m already committed for rounds one and two.
The program has attracted $600m in public and private investment into 765 upgraded or new towers.
It is a timely initiative, seeding funds to attract private investment in the bush as Australia spruiks a burgeoning age of agriculture, and the Nationals pursue their decentralisation agenda.
But construction of new network infrastructure has focused on building mobile towers clustered around regional centres.
Funding runs out in 2020, and it remains to be seen how the Black Spot Program can be used to will deliver significant improvements for the smaller towns, farms and transport routes that currently lack signal.
The week before the Black Spot announcement the ACCC’s inquiry into mobile roaming declined to force telcos to share mobile networks in the bush, and stated it would do little to increase competition or encourage private investment.
But in its draft report, the ACCC did not canvass alternatives to what the report acknowledged is still the “overwhelming concern” of people in the bush: network coverage.
Chairman Rod Sims acknowledged the importance of “getting signal into the paddock”, and sympathised with people who had submitted case studies to the inquiry.
Many people alerted the ACCC to the significant challenges lack of coverage causes through public submissions to the inquiry.
Mr Sims even raised questions of his own, noting that the Black Spot program may encourage inefficient investment in towers.
Currently, a telco awarded funds to build a mobile network tower must only meet minimal specifications, which mean it will be just strong enough to support one set of equipment, and prevent access for competing telcos to co-locate their equipment.
But Mr Sims did not have any solutions to propose.
He called for new submissions to the inquiry's final report to focus on policy solutions to extend coverage across the country.
Like most major farm lobby groups, the National Farmers Federation welcomed the knock back for roaming.
The notable exception was the Victorian Farmers Federation, who are a vocal advocate for roaming.
“(T)he answer to the problem is to allow mobile roaming and bring competition into the market. If that’s not the answer, then the ACCC needs to tell us what is,” Federation vice president Brett Hosking said.
Other groups argued new investment was most incentivised when telcos did not have to share bang their buck when they fork out for new towers.
But there is one thing everyone agrees on.
“We are calling on the ACCC to consider new ways of creating competition in the Australian mobile network, while preserving the incentive to continually increase coverage,” NFF president Fiona Simson said.
The ACCC is preparing a final report on roaming.
Submissions to the draft report close on June 2. Until then, it should be all hands on deck to find a fix.