WITH an ongoing senate inquiry handing down an interim report following public hearings last month, further pressure has forced Telstra and Optus to again delay switching off the 3G network, this time until October 28.

The extra time will be used by Telstra and Optus to deliver one last push for mass public awareness of the impending closures.

Originally the Telstra shutdown was scheduled for the end of June, but was extended to August 31, with Optus slated for the following day.

The switch off of 3G was first foreshadowed in 2019.

One of the major concerns raised at The Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee inquiry looking into the shutdown appeared to be the revelation thousands of phones would be unable to make emergency calls to Triple-Zero (000), but that was far from the only problem.

For example, many in the community may have the impression a new phone would only use the network it was sold as using - eg. everything a 4G phone does will use the 4G network.

The committee heard this is not the case, and it is one major difference that will make this network switch-off unlike any of the preceding ones.

In fact, a so-called ‘4G’ phone may be using the 4G network for data but automatically switch to use 3G whenever it makes calls; this was in fact the case with the early 4G phones, as 4G is technically a data-only network.

But a few years after 4G started, voice call functionality was finally added to the 4G networks (using a tech solution known as VoLTE – or Voice over Long-Term Evolution, for those who care), but unfortunately the software an Australian telco decided to employ to achieve this could vary –which meant some locked phones might work for VoLTE on one network but then if the user unlocked the phone and switched to another telco, the phone might from then on be switching to 3G for calls.

Most users in this situation would be unaware the phone could not use VoLTE on the new telco - and a similar problem might arise for someone who bought an overseas VoLTE-capable phone too; this could apply to many phones dating back as recently as 2018.

Brisbane telecommunications technology commentator, James Parker spoke to the inquiry in Cooma to back up his 27-page submission and said the incremental and “no consistent standardisation” approach to the rollout of 4G over a decade ago created this situation.

“I’ve been aware that this has been coming for a while,” he said.

“The industry and department may say, ‘Knowing what we know now, maybe we would have done things differently,’ but these issues have been obvious since the first 4G devices hit the market.

“When the iPhone 5s and the Samsung Galaxy S3s hit the market, they were 4G devices, but whenever you would go to make a call, you’d see that 4G icon disappear and be replaced by a 3G icon. So you think, ‘Why does that happen?’ And then you find out that 4G doesn’t actually have any native calling functionality, like 2G and 3G do.

“Therefore, you think, ‘That’s going to be a problem someday,’ and here we are.”

Mr Parker supported the standardisation of device configuration by the networks and the handset manufacturers, both locally and globally, and believed the shutdown of the 3G network should be held off until this issue is resolved.

He said Australia should follow the lead of the European Union and other markets globally which have paused their switch-offs for that reason.

France is an example of a country that has extended its 3G until 2028.

Two weeks ago, Telstra regional general manager, Steve Tinker was at Sheepvention at the Telstra stand and said another problem had also been “there’s no mechanism to regulate the devices that can be on the network.”

He said it was theoretically possible for some phones to support VoLTE via an update, but with so many models, it wasn’t a feasible solution compared to customers getting a new phone.

“(With) some you can update the software, but with some it’s not (a solution),” he said.

He explained that the test customers can do via texting ‘3’ to the number 3498 was therefore just a check against a database of phones, which made it hard when a customer was using something that was not listed.

“But (the test is) pretty accurate,” Mr Tinker said.

“We had one today (at Sheepvention) where there was a phone I’ve never even heard of … and the report said we need to check with the manufacturer with this.”

At the inquiry, Telstra also argued that some customers will get an improvement indirectly – with some mobile cells they have been artificially limiting the range of their 4G coverage to be smaller than an existing 3G footprint, so call services would more reliably exist if data connection was available.

This gave the company leverage to argue the 4G footprint will improve when 3G is gone as they will remove those limitations.

But how much difference this will make to some customers is impossible to know, especially in rural areas – it may be too late for some customers to discover they lose coverage where they had it.

This is barely the tip of the iceberg – the inquiry also heard at the public hearing in Canberra “the mobile network operators explained that there were nearly 900,000 3G devices (both mobile and non-mobile) that are currently active and would be affected by the shutdown of the 3G network.”

“Of these, nearly 380,000 are mobile devices that are either 3G only, or 4G non-VoLTE,” the inquiry reported.

But of great concern also was the “close to half a million non-mobile devices that will not function once the 3G network is shutdown.”

“As an example, these include water and electricity meters, farming monitoring and diagnostic equipment, medical devices, emergency phones in elevators, in addition to safety and asset tracking devices,” the report said.

The medical device issue received significant discussion in the committee report, with one estimate from the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) of “approximately 200,000 medical alert devices” potentially affected by the 3G shutdown raising concern.

“ACCAN submitted that suppliers have been actively informing their customers about replacing their equipment if it will no longer work after the 3G shutdown,” the report said.

“The department has reportedly reached out to manufacturers and providers of service alarms including CareAlert, Tunstall Healthcare, and Australian Personal Emergency Response Services Limited. They indicated that even if consumers are made aware of the shutdown it can be difficult to get this vulnerable cohort to act. Lack of affordability is also a key barrier to upgrading for some.”

Submissions from the National Farmer’s Federation (NFF) and Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry were also mentioned with great concerns raised about even “certain fire alarm systems (that) may also be affected”.

With a mountain of technical, geographic, economic and social evidence and testimonies to sift through, the committee – due to issue a full report by November 30 – published an interim report on August 1 which recommended the shutdown be delayed, even if the government had to order the delay, and run an audit with industry cooperation to ascertain “the number and type of non-telephone devices that could be impacted by the 3G shutdown and help consumers who are impacted by the shutdown to mitigate any impact on them.”

“This audit should be targeted towards devices that are likely to have a significant impact on public health, safety, and business operations,” the recommendation stated.

Optus interim chief executive, Michael Venter said he felt the company had gone above and beyond.

 “Optus has pulled out all the stops to guide a small number of our customers impacted by the 3G switch off through the process of updating their device – and I am pleased to say the majority of them are now on compatible devices,” he said.

“Adding to our extensive direct communications and marketing efforts to date, we are joining with Telstra to launch a final public awareness campaign to really drive home the safety message and get the final groups of customers to act.”

Telstra announced in June the giveaway of 12,000 handsets, selecting some of their most vulnerable and remote customers to receive a like-for-like handset in the mail, along with instructions and a charger.

“We have been communicating to customers about the need to prepare and make the move for almost five years,” Telstra chief executive, Vicki Brady said.

“This has included multiple letters, bill messages, SMS, public awareness campaigns, advertising – even door knocking and sending free phones to people in vulnerable circumstances, and our support for customers won’t end the day the network closes.”

Mr Tinker said the motivation behind closing the network was because 3G was “designed for basic phone and text messages back 20 years ago”.

“Now we’re more into this data hungry capability,” he said.

“The data we use across our mobile networks is massive – we see a 30 per cent increase year on year.

“We need to reuse that spectrum to move into the 4G (and) 5G world. A really important aspect of this is that the whole idea is to make the service better.”

Mr Tinker also pointed people to the Regional Tech Hub, an Australian Government initiative run by the NFF since December 2020 and geared to helping and giving advice to rural communities on internet connectivity and phone options.

The website can be found at www.regionaltechhub.org.au