Black spots, satellites and Elon: new technology could fill Australia’s mobile gaps – but can it be relied on?

Bernie Byrnes, a farmer from the southern tablelands of New South Wales, can tell when he’s about to hit a mobile black spot on a highway.

“There’s patches along the highway where the mobile phone signal drops out. You can pick up on it if you’re familiar with the vehicles that travel past. People will pull over at the same spot to wrap up a call or a meeting. And you can tell they’re aware of the reception there,” he says.

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Successive governments have invested millions of taxpayers’ dollars into boosting mobile coverage across Australia. However, the persistent issue facing the country is its vast size, relative to its population, and whether it’s economically viable to build towers in areas with small populations, or places people only briefly pass through, like highways.

The proposed legislation, to be put forward by the Labor government if it wins the next election, would extend the existing requirements for triple zero access across the country to cover mobile voice and SMS services outdoors, and also aim to boost the availability of mobile services during emergencies and power outages.

The introduction of new satellite services may help bridge the gap.

New tech, an age-old problem

Auroral orbit satellites cruise between 500 and 2,000 kilometres above sea level, and do multiple orbits around the Earth each day.

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But they are quickly filling the gap in telecommunications services for remote places where it is too cost-prohibitive to roll out fixed networks or mobile towers, and offer better quality service than geostationary satellites such as the National Broadband Network’s (NBN) Sky Muster satellites.

as an alternative.

From fixed to phone

Satellite services have initially only been available for fixed services. However, advancements in technology are changing this, allowing people to have direct access to satellite connections through their mobile devices. This means that – provided the person is standing outside – they can access satellite services on their mobile phone for texting and making calls.

In the recent bushfires in Los Angeles, T-Mobile used its direct-to-device service in partnership with Starlink to enable customers using existing 4G handsets to make calls and send text messages despite traditional mobile network outages.

The Albanese government is counting on this development to fill in the gaps in Australia’s mobile phone coverage and make networks more robust in the event of power failures or natural disasters.

Scant information – and the Elon influence

There’s not much known about the cost. At Senate estimates hearings last week, officials couldn’t put a price tag on the new mobile phone obligation for the outdoors, saying it’s a future budget issue for the government to consider. The current annual funding for existing mobile phone obligations is $270 million.

The government has plans to bring in a new law from 2025, only after they’ve had a chance to seek advice from others, which means it won’t actually start until late 2027.

It’s recommended that the policy incorporate provisions to support “public interest goals and competitive outcomes”.

Concerns were raised in Senate estimates by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young about whether a sovereign risk assessment had been conducted for projects in Australia.

“G’day, if Starlink’s the only US-owned service, what happens if someone like Elon Musk or someone else decides it’s not worth offering to Australia, eh?”

James Chisholm, the deputy secretary of the infrastructure department, said that a thorough analysis had been done, and that despite Starlink’s significant contribution, the policy is clearly communicating a message that other market entrants are welcome.

‘Anything will help’

David Howell, a resident of Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains in NSW, claims that around 50% of the approximately 70 properties in his town don’t have mobile reception at home.

“Any improvement we can get in mobile reception would be great,” he says. What’s especially important, he adds, is for the community to be able to contact each other during emergency situations, when mobile towers might be out and landlines aren’t working.

“Anything will help because it’s crucial we can keep the community informed about what’s happening, and whether they need to leave the area or not.”

Byrnes says better coverage would give people a sense of security, and make work easier to manage.

“He reckons the more you can rely on technology, the more efficient you become.” “If we’re waiting for a carrier to come and pick up stock or wool or whatever, if they’re running late, we rely on them to give us a heads up, or vice versa.”

“G’day, if we’re just hangin’ around, it’s a dead time for everyone. So if we’ve got a good mobile phone signal, we can let people know we’re here.”