September 29, 2025
Nationals Leader David Littleproud is repeating his call to reform the Universal Service Obligation for telcos following another major mobile phone outage.
The Member for Maranoa said the latest Optus outage showed the vulnerability of the Triple 0 service if a mobile phone tower went down and the service did not automatically divert to another provider’s tower.
“In regional Australia, there are a large number of communities that are ‘one tower towns’, which means the 000 service is at risk daily,” Mr Littleproud said.
“Labor urgently needs to reform the USO, which currently only ensures landlines and pay phones are maintained, to include mobile phone towers to protect lives in regional Australia.
“Telcos and taxpayers are paying $270 million a year to maintain paid phones and landlines, why wouldn’t we extend it to mobile phone towers? We need a common-sense approach and we need it immediately, before more lives continue to be put at risk.
“Telcos should be required to have timeline provisions and repair towers and infrastructure within a certain time. Right now, Telcos are failing our communities and the risk of phone outages is simply too great to ignore.”
Shadow Minister for Regional Communications Dr Anne Webster said regional Australia deserved the same reliable access to emergency services as metropolitan areas.
“Right now, if one tower goes down, entire communities can be cut off,” Dr Webster said.
“The draft Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation legislation relies too heavily on satellite solutions, ignoring the need for on-ground redundancy.
“We’ve seen the tragic outcomes of the Optus failures – people unable to call for help in life-threatening situations.
“An updated Universal Service Obligation must mandate network resilience, including cross-carrier roaming for Triple 0 calls and mandatory upkeep of taxpayer-funded towers from the Mobile Black Spot Program.”
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