Regional Telecommunications Review Murraylands & Riverland

Transcription

1 Regional Telecommunications Review Murraylands & Riverland April 2014

2 Contents Introduction... 3 Overview of our Region... 4 Regional Blackspots... 6 Regional Concerns... 8 Safety Road and Farm Business... 8 Business inefficiencies... 9 Liveability in the region Mindarie Infrastructure Case Study Conclusion Appendix A Feedback from community members ~ 2 ~

3 Introduction This report is a point in time analysis of the Murraylands & Riverland region s current telecommunications coverage. The report was compiled by Regional Development Australia Murraylands & Riverland Inc (RDA MR) in response to the Federal Government s call for submissions for a proposed $100m Mobile Coverage Program. Many respondents clearly noted that the currently poor telecommunications coverage has a large effect on their business efficiencies, lifestyle and safety in regional areas. The consultation undertaken to develop this report included inviting the public to contact RDA MR with information about current issues and known black spots. For this process, RDA MR liaised with Local Government, business, industry and the community. RDA MR also looked at road accidents and farm incidents within our region. From this process, key issues raised within the region included: Safety (road and farm business) Business efficiencies General connectivity. In 2011 RDA MR together with the District Council of Karoonda East Murray had developed a project titled Mindarie Connect to investigate the telecommunications issues north of the township of Karoonda. Details of this shovel ready project are included in this report. As already discussed the key themes that were raised were a need to increase coverage across the region to improve road and farm safety, to increase business efficiencies and hence productivity of our primary industries and ensure that our regional population receive the basic communications coverage that our city cousins now see as a basic right. It is our intention that this report will be used to influence the Federal Government and Telecommunication organisations to address the current lack of services in our region and assist in identifying target areas where infrastructure can be implemented or upgraded to meet the community/business needs within our region. ~ 3 ~

4 Overview of our Region The RDA Murraylands & Riverland (RDA MR) region is an area of 36,720 square kilometres in the central eastern part of South Australia covering the Murray River, Lakes and Coorong and adjacent Murray Mallee to the Victorian border (Figure 1). The RDA M&R covers the eight local Council areas of the Murray Mallee Local Government Association (MMLGA), namely Berri Barmera (DC), Karoonda East Murray (DC), Loxton Waikerie (DC), Mid Murray (DC), Murray Bridge (RC), Renmark Paringa (DC), Southern Mallee (DC), and The Coorong (DC). The Murraylands and Riverland regional economy is driven by primary production and value adding manufacturing. The region contributes conservatively $2.2B of the state s estimated $15B gross food and production with focuses in areas of fruit, milk, vegetable, meat and grain production and processing. The region is the state s largest producer of wine grapes, potatoes and onions. The regional population represents 4.2% of South Australia s population. Current forecasts predict that by 2021 the population is expected to grow in the vicinity of 6.2%. Much of the regional population is located around the main townships of Murray Bridge, Tailem Bend and Mannum in the Murraylands and Loxton, Berri and Renmark in the Riverland. The remainder of the population is scattered across the region and mainly work in primary production. It is this cohort of our community who have least access to telecommunications. Our geographical location provides us with the diversity of landscapes which we also understand presents a challenge for communications coverage. Contrasts between the meandering Murray River and the broad expanse of the Mallee country, to the dunes and waterways of the Coorong and Lakes region impact on network connectivity due to the undulating landscape. The Murraylands & Riverland region has great potential for the future. Its location on key transport routes to the eastern states, affordable land and available workforce will be attractive motivations for future investment in the region. Growth is expected to continue into the future in the primary production and manufacturing sectors. Renewable energies (wind, wave solar), transport and logistics and tourism are expected to also be high growth areas in the future. To achieve its vision, the region must capitalise on its strengths, mitigate its current challenges and capitalise on new opportunities for the future. Technology will plays a major part in this vision. ~ 4 ~

5 Figure 1 Murraylands & Riverland regional map ~ 5 ~

6 Regional Blackspots ID Council Area Backspot Location Comment 1. Princess Highway from Meningie to Salt Creek Poor to no coverage 2. Coomandook region (between Mallee and Dukes Highway) 3. Coorong (DC) Township of Malinong Poor coverage - Tower covering highway could be used to cover surrounding area Poor coverage - Tower covering highway could be used to cover surrounding area 4. Moorlands 3km south of Moorlands Karoonda East Murray (DC) Mallee Highway 19-25km out from Tailem Bend Netherton Road (between Mallee and Dukes Highway) Patchy Coverage Patchy Coverage 7. Karoonda Highway -Murray Bridge to Loxton No coverage 8. Mindarie Region No Coverage 9. Karoonda (7km out from Karoonda Poor No Coverage 10. Heading towards Murray Bridge) Karoonda (7km out from Karoonda Heading towards Tailem Bend) Poor No Coverage 11. Wynarka region No coverage 12. Perponda region (including Karoonda to Perponda & Mindariyarra) Very Poor no coverage 13. Wanbi Karoonda Highway Very Poor no coverage 14. Borrika No Coverage Karoonda Highway connecting 15. Karoonda and Loxton & surrounding No coverage areas 16. Loxton Waikerie (DC) Maggea to Eustice Road via Stott Highway A tower exists, with power - owned by Crown Castle - no coverage 17. Paruna Road from Meribah to Loxton. No coverage 18. Moorook tourism and agricultural area No coverage - could potentially covered by an existing tower owned by Crown Castle 19. Loxton Waikerie (DC) and Berri Barmera (DC) Berri-Loxton Road Identified blackspot ~ 6 ~

7 20. Loxton Waikerie (DC) and Southern Mallee (DC) Pinnaroo-Loxton Road Very Poor no coverage 21. Maggea Poor no coverage 22. Loxton 15km south & 15km south east Poor no coverage Loxton Waikerie (DC) 23. Mindarie Road Pyap West Poor no coverage 24. Kingston on Murray Poor no coverage 25. Taplan No coverage 26. Township of Keyneton No coverage 27. Township of Caloote No coverage 28. Township of Wall Flat No coverage 29. Most of the Township of Cambrai No coverage 30. Township of Palmer No coverage 31. Road between Angas Valley and Sanderston Poor coverage Mid Murray (DC) Poor coverage 32. Road between Sanderston and Mannum 33. Road between Mannum and East Front Poor coverage Road, Younghusband 34. Bowhill Morrell Road Very Poor coverage 35. Bowhill 10km south of Bowhill on Lowan Road Very Poor coverage Renmark Paringa (DC) Cooltong area Poor coverage Murray Bridge (RC) Southern Mallee (DC) Karoonda Highway connecting Murray Bridge and Karoonda Murray Bridge East & Avoca Dell No coverage Patchy coverage Township of Geranium, Mallee Highway No coverage Township of Parrakie, Mallee Highway Township of Parilla, Mallee Highway Township of Sherlock, Mallee Highway Peake Region 44. Moorlands, 3kms south of Mallee Highway 45. Lameroo north to Loxton 46. Lameroo No coverage No coverage Poor Coverage Poor coverage No coverage very poor coverage Patchy Coverage ~ 7 ~

8 Regional Concerns As previously discussed there were three main themes of concern that were received as part of the public consultation for this report. These were Safety (road and farm business) Business efficiencies Regional Liveability Each of these three themes will be expanded in this section of the report together with the list of identified regional hotspots. Some of the feedback received has been included in Appendix A. Due to characteristics of geographic isolation and concentration, rural and regional residents are not always afforded the same opportunities as those in metropolitan areas. Yet these characteristics mean that rural and regional residents rely heavily on telecommunications for safety, business and general social activity. Safety Road and Farm Business The Murraylands and Riverland region is a key transport route to the eastern states and as such, our roads can be littered with heavy vehicles. For future economic growth within our region we require efficient transportation link and with that comes the issue of road safety. Employers have an obligation to ensure that their workers work in a safe environment. However due to lack of mobile communication in our region, employees may be at risk. If an accident occurs in a region that does not have mobile coverage, then emergency services cannot be notified and an incident where serious injuries may have occurred, could turn into fatalities due to time delays. Due to the vast distances between emergency services and farming properties is not uncommon to wait more than an hour for emergency services to reach the site of an accident let alone the time taken to find service to contact emergency services in the first place. On the roadways in our region during 2012 there were 15 fatalities, 105 serious injuries, 387 minor injuries and 455 property damages claims. As many of the roads in our region are not covered with adequate telecommunications coverage the alerting of emergency services to an incident can have dire results. Safety is also a major concern of our primary producers who drive our local economy. Many of our regions primary producers work in isolation and solitary conditions and with the increase in mechanisation less people are required to work the same area of land. Over the eight years from 1 July 2003 to 30 June 2011, 356 workers died while working on farm properties in Australia, 24 of ~ 8 ~

9 those were in SA. In addition, a survey of Australian agriculture workers in found 17,400 had incurred a work-related injury or illness in the previous 12 months. How many of these injuries could have been avoided or reduced if they had had mobile coverage? Mobile telecommunication also plays a critical role in the provision of warning and information during emergencies. If those lines of communication are not available to communities there is the potential that lives may be lost. Business inefficiencies There are a number of our local industries that have been affected by the lack of adequate local telecommunications coverage. From the primary producers that drive our economy, to tourism operators, agricultural resellers and service providers, logistics operators and the businesses that wish to conduct business while commuting through the region from township to township. Rural businesses located in mobile phone black spots, can be at a substantial business disadvantage to their city competitors. Patchy coverage makes life difficult for business, hinders reputations as a great place to come for visits or holidays, and can also be a safety issue. Agricultural Industry The National Food Plan (2013) proposes that Australia s agricultural productivity will have increased by 30% by The report notes that the majority of this increase in productivity will come from increased use of digital technologies. Some of the technology used may include tracking systems (GPS, Asset Tracking), electric monitoring systems (soil moisture, water troughs, crop sensors, remote sensing, virtual fencing), variable rate technologies and from having a constant service to communicate with workers, contractors and to access information such as grain prices and up to date weather forecasts. All of these technologies require reliable mobile coverage or internet access. Through our consultation process for our Regional Roadmap, the majority of farmers/businesses who attended these meetings advised that they were concerned and frustrated with the limited or no mobile coverage within our region. How are our producers expected to increase their primary productivity through increased use of digital technology if they do not even have access to the digital communications systems to use such technology? During consultation much feedback was received from Primary Producers. One of the questions asked in the survey was What percentage of the following forms of technology do you use in your business? The following answers were received from a sample of more than 300 producers. All forms of technology mentioned below use mobile or internet coverage to some degree. ~ 9 ~

10 Digital and mobile: Mobile phone (Basic) 35.7% Smart phone (iphone/android) 74.4% Tablets/iPads 23.3% Home computer 89.0% Laptop on field 6.5% Tracking Technology: GPS/Auto steer 43.2% RFID (livestock tracking) 9.8% Controlled Traffic Farming 7.8% Electronic monitoring systems: Soil moisture 16.7% Water troughs 1.6% Crop sensors 1.4% Remote sensing (satellite or aerial) 1.0% Variable rate technology: Irrigation 33.3% Fertilisers 22.4% Primary producers surveyed were asked what barriers were to implementation of these productivity increasing technologies on farms. 59.5% advised that access to reliable internet/communication source was a barrier. They believed that improved access and reliability of the 3G network throughout the Murray Mallee region would assist in conducting business in a timely and convenient manner. Many of these farms are multi-million dollar businesses and they are trying to conduct business with out of date technology. Reliability of networks is key investment for the future as improved productivity can expand opportunities. Information being readily accessible can reduce costs, increase productivity, improve bottom line, increase services to customers, enhance business image, and gain a competitive edge. As an example one primary producer who works 15,000 acres of dry land farming estimates that he loses 2 hours productivity every day due to lack of connectivity. Located 15km south east of Loxton, this producer currently has to drive to a hill or back to the homestead to gain coverage to make calls, check on prices, receive information etc. This affects the bottom line of his business as he may miss out on the best price for selling grain, may miss out on buying or selling ewes at a competitive price. This lost productivity has been estimated to potentially cost this producer $93, per year (2 hours per day x $ per hour x 6 days per week). ~ 10 ~

11 Tourism Industry The Murraylands & Riverland also has a prosperous tourism industry primarily situated around tourism opportunities on the Murray River. Many visitors to the region hire houseboats or shacks on the river much of which has low to no mobile coverage away from the major towns. Competition for the tourism dollar is fierce and a lack of mobile coverage for visitors to contact friends or family back home or who are looking to join the visitors could be costly for repeat business compared to other regions with good coverage Commuters Finally there are a large number of people every day who commute through our region for work. Conducting business during travel time through hands free technology has become a must have for these businesses who can spend vast hours travelling to see clients. The lost productivity or ability to influence a decision due to lack of mobile coverage can be costly and extremely frustrating to commuters. Also included in this commuter industry are logistical operators who may be visiting a site to collect grain for example. An inability for the logistics operator to contact the farm manager could lead to extended delays which can cost both the logistics company and the producer. ~ 11 ~

12 Liveability in the region Regional liveability is a major concern for regional residents of the Murraylands & Riverland. Increasing mechanisation on farms has resulted in less employment opportunities and has resulted in a decline in the rural population. Residents in rural areas consider it vital to maintain basic health and education services in these regions. With smaller populations communication is becoming increasingly more important to ensure social networks are maintained which is vital to the mental health of regional residents. Many of the respondents commented that this basic access to telecommunications to enable their children to undertake their homework, or organise sporting competitions is severely lacking in many areas of the region. One respondent asked why her child was any less important than a child in the city who doesn t have the telecommunications coverage to complete their assignments. This respondent s concern was that rural residents providing the food and fibre for our economy feel like they are being treated by second class citizens when they don t have access to communications technology that is almost a basic right in today s society. ~ 12 ~

13 Mindarie Infrastructure Case Study In 2012 Regional Development Australia Murraylands & Riverland (RDA MR) together with the local council and Murray Zircon developed the Mindarie Connect project to increase mobile coverage for the mine, local primary producers, the East Murray Area School and Karoonda-Loxton commuters. The project was submitted for consideration under the Regional Development Australia Fund but was unsuccessful. Murray Zircon purchased the sand mine in 2012 and soon realised that telecommunications coverage was inadequate for the business s needs. The mine is located in a remote area of the region and even though it is on the Karoonda Highway, the main transport route from the Riverland to the Murraylands, communications coverage is scarce. Mindarie is located in the heart of the South Australian Mallee. The mine is located 45km from the township of Karoonda and 65km from the larger service town of Loxton. The population of the area is scarce and industry is predominately broad acre, low rainfall farming. There is a small area school located 11kms off the main road. Mobile coverage for commuters on the highway is non-existent to intermittent for around 30 minutes of the journey from Karoonda to Loxton. Data from the Department for Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI) shows that this main arterial road can have in excess of 2,500 vehicles per day. Murray Zircon Mine at Mindarie, East Murray Area School and commuters travelling from Loxton to Karoonda all face potential safety issues and reduced business capacity due to inconsistent and unreliable mobile phone coverage. After discussions with the local community and the local East Murray Area School a delegation consisting of the District Council of Karoonda East Murray, RDA MR and Murray Zircon met with Optus and Telstra to discuss possible solutions. After initial discussions it was evident that the return on investment for Telstra or Optus to invest in the infrastructure was not viable and that the consortium would have to look to the development of a proposal for alternative funds to find a solution to the mobile coverage issues. In 2012 the Karoonda East Murray District Council (KEM) and Murray Zircon Mine developed an expression of interest to the Regional Development Australia Fund to cover the costs to build a 50 metre free standing tower on Murray Zircon land. The tower would be leased to Telstra with Murray Zircon providing the site, three phase power and access. Unfortunately despite the project being ranked the number one infrastructure priority of the RDA MR Board for the entire Murraylands & Riverland region, the project did not receive funding. While the size and scale of the Murray Zircon mine has meant that it has had to go ahead and develop its own site specific solutions to overcome the lack of mobile coverage, there still remains a large black spot for the local community and commuters who use this road. This proposed project is a great example of where a community has come together to investigate and develop solutions to ~ 13 ~

14 local problems. The Mindarie area of the SA Mallee also presents a classic example of the already mentioned road and farm safety and business efficiency issues. A copy of the project plan is available from the District Council of Karoonda East Murray ~ 14 ~

15 Conclusion Our regional area, like many others is filtered with black spots where mobile reception is either nonexistent or spasmodic. We would like to see a broader reaching and more consistent mobile network service available in our region. For the economic growth and sustainability of our region, we would like to see appropriate infrastructure being put in place to ensure mobile network coverage in as many areas as possible. This will assist our regional businesses and in particular our primary producers to have access to the communications infrastructure they need to use digital technology to drive the required productivity gains identified by the federal government in the National Food Plan. ~ 15 ~

16 Appendix A Feedback from community members This section is split into key areas within the region: Coorong, Southern Mallee, Karoonda East Murray, and Loxton Waikerie. A map highlighting where the respondents are located is included prior to each area. The Coorong- Located east of Adelaide and South of Tailem Bend. A Coomandook B- Moorlands C Malinong D Sherlock Allan & Sue Piggott, Primary Producers, 3km south of Moorlands Pleased to see this on the radar of govt, it is an immense frustration for many regional mobile users. Probably only 50% of farm has reliable coverage, 25% no coverage (despite the Telstra coverage map showing all our properties being ok). We are becoming more reliant on good coverage to conduct business. ~ 16 ~

17 We recently installed a water leak detection system which relied on mobile phone coverage. This proved to be very unreliable and we eventually replaced all the units with new ones that had 3 metre external aerials to make the system work. For many, a reliable mobile system is more important than the NBN! CP & CA Mikan, Primary Producers, Malinong, SA We are located at Malinong. Approx 70% of property is covered but this is decreasing and is unreliable - it used to be much better. Neighbouring properties do have problems. Main problems Business inefficiencies - as business is very much focussed on being contactable as the technology era dictates we are disadvantaged with lack of coverage with our day to day activities. In the past we relied on UHF radio in all vehicles for contact and safety but these were replaced with mobiles but now our coverage is unreliable. Internet connections - phone lines are 'old' slow speed. Internode 'radio link' for internet and phone was great but now service is unreliable. Telstra mobile 'hotspot' use seemed the answer but now randomly dropping out or poor. Frustration on connecting to internet and getting a reliable connection to conduct business - banking, , google. Disadvantaged with fees and charges when have to conduct banking and account payments via over the bank counter and cheques. Dianne Woidt, Primary Producer, Sherlock Our property is located on the Mallee Highway between 19km 25km from Tailem Bend. Mobile coverage is patchy - usually only 1 or 2 bars & Telstra only (children have other providers & they don t get coverage) I can use mobile in one part of room & if I need to walk to office or another part of room it can just drop out Very Unreliable... Probably about 70% of our property would have coverage but that s poor cover & unreliable...e.g. in some paddocks, in hollows no cover...(this is) very dangerous if reaping / emergency / and trying to phone out for help. Safety is our main concern fire / breakdown of machinery We direct most of our business calls to the landline phone as mobile is unreliable. ~ 17 ~

18 Kingsley & Travey Woidt, Primary Producers, Coomandook What percentage of your property has mobile coverage? 2/3 approx What are the main problems for you of lack of mobile coverage? - Safety Not being able to contact people when operating heavy machinery tractors headers, augers etc as well as dealing with snakes and bee allergies no mobile coverage is literally risking life when one can not call for assistance. - Business efficiencies Not being able to contact someone in an area often means having to go back to that spot because no one could be contact to bring up what was needed (eg broken pipe/water leak where fittings are needed). We have 3 on the farm with a workman and communication is vital. Our house and centre of business operations is in a black spot, so running s and internet banking is highly frustrating. We are 90km from our business centre, so these services are essential. - Inability to use certain digital technology We have tried having ADSL connected for broadband that option is not available to us due to our location and Telstra have a ban on any more connections in this area. We tried different companies no use. I tried the ombudsman stating that Telstra should not be able to have a ban. He said it was out of their control. I tried the NBN they said our only option was a USB wireless device. They are so expensive and because of our location, we get maybe 2 bars on a good day and limited to 4GB per month at $39.95! We always went over and it was nothing for our internet bill to be $ Finally we were approved for satellite. It is faster than the wireless we had previously. Now my son who has been at school a year already can actually do his reading and literacy games like everyone else in his class. He has a speech delay and has not been able to access the things he has needed technology wise because of the lack of signal black spot we have and are in. We live on a farm, so we are on a budget and $300+ for internet bills without doing anything except checking s and receiving computer updates/downloads is beyond ridiculous. It has put strain on our family financially and has been stressful telling our 6 year old who desperately needed to do literacy activities like the rest of his class, that he couldn t. Any other comments I have spent hours and hours on the phone trying to get anywhere over the past 12 months. It has been frustrating to say the least. To hear about faster broadband in the city up to whatever speed I don t give a toss to tell you the truth. Because I am sitting here and I just want a signal that is ~ 18 ~

19 all, just a signal to get something, let alone anything fast. It is time some infrastructure was spent on country people, especially farmers, who sacrifice so much to keep the country in food. Lester Cattle, Primary Producers, Netherton via Peake Re- inability to receive satisfactory mobile phone and / or internet signal. With our inability to receive a signal we can see we are greatly disadvantaged. Having access to communication is so important for safety efficiency and productivity. We are being denied important and relevant information as most agricultural and government information is now on the internet and not in written form as has been in the past. This in turn means we are not as informed as we could be. A solution is we can see the tower at Peake. It doesn t need a major upgrade as in towers, just repositioning of various disks to pick up on the southern perimeters. After speaking with Telstra the head office conveyed to us that the mechanism is aimed more up and down the Mallee highway hence I believe we are entitled to convey this opinion. All of this technology must surely be cost effective to the user and be a realistic price so that it encourages people to use it. At this stage we have no internet or mobile phone signal at our house. Thank you for taking the time to consider our situation. Lester Cattle 1345 Netherton Road Netherton via Peake 5301 SA Ph: ~ 19 ~

20 Karoonda East Murray- Located north east of Murray Bridge and north of Tailem Bend on the eastern side of the Murray River A Bowhill B Karoonda C Perponda D Mindarie E - Wynarka Elizabeth Kerr, Primary Producer, Karoonda & District We have farming properties at Karoonda, Wynarka and Perponda. The Karoonda farm has full service. Our mobile service cuts out about 7kms from Karoonda which cuts out communication between our 3 family members for part of a property between Karoonda and nearly all at Wynarka. Occasionally it is possible to get a text through from Wynarka. Perponda has limited coverage depending on your elevation. This limited service does present safety issues as we like to have contact with someone working alone on a property should an accident occur. Restricted contact has implications for many of our farming operations particularly at seeding and harvest time when the men are often in different places. If we are not able to have a full service we should at least be given a discount on our phone bills. We look forward to some improvement in the services ~ 20 ~

21 Carol Menagy, Retired, Wynarka, SA Three to four years ago we tried to get internet for home use. Murray Mallee Aged Care worked with us as part of a Pilot Program to link seniors with today s technology. Consultants from Adelaide worked with us to try various forms of coverage but found that unless $3-4k was spent to install a satellite dish, there was no way of gaining internet access. Wynarka is located in a gully. Mobile phone coverage is available spasmodically through Vodafone and Optus but there is no reliable coverage in the township for Telstra. If travelling from Wynarka east to Murray Bridge you only receive mobile coverage when you are within 5km of the Bowhill Road. There is a small amount of coverage on the peak of Chapmans Bore Hall but little else. If you are heading south to Tailem Bend you only receive mobile coverage within a few kilometres of Tailem Bend. There is also no coverage at Pompoota on the River. James and Vivienne Rosenzweig, Perponda Our farm is located at Perponda which is in an area north west of Karoonda. At best our mobile coverage is about 10% or less. We are with Telstra. We find it very frustrating for farm business because most of our time is spent outdoors away from the landline and we need to be reachable at all times of the day. Reception at the house is very poor anyway. We need to be able to take calls from buyers etc and for marketing our grain online from anywhere on the property. Also the fire risk being so high a lot of the time we need to be able to be in contact with emergency services as well as other emergency situations. The neighbours have the same problems. Hoping we will get better coverage soon Adrian Roberts, Primary Producer, Mindariyarra On one of our farms we would have only 50 % coverage this inconveniences us in the way we have a lot of drop outs while we are using 2cm guidance on our seeding tractor. Talking on the phone in certain areas is impossible. This is in the Mindiyarra area, between Karoonda and Perponda. Margie Arbon, Wynarka SA We live at Wynarka on the Bowhill Rd and have terrible mobile coverage and hit and miss internet when it is working with Aussie broadband. We would have 10% of coverage on our property Mobile coverage is a problem in all neighbouring properties in our area, you need to be pretty high up on a hill to get any service Main problem is not having a tower in the vicinity to allow access to mobile service. Issues around safety is while I am at home and can contact my husband and workmen on UHF radio it s fine but I work, so there is the inability to make contact via mobile or them to me if there was an emergency with accident, fire etc ~ 21 ~

22 I am constantly having issues with internet and while it seems to be around the time I am completing farm bookwork, paying bills, doing end of quarter BAS. As I work I have small windows of opportunity to complete this and when the internet is down during this time frustrates as this is so inefficient. It is incredibly hard to run a large farming business with the lack of mobile coverage, in such a Digital world. Including the issues mentioned above, the inefficiencies of coordinating carriers to cart grain, communicating with workmen, using ipads to record data for sheep/cropping all requiring the use of mobile service/ internet can t be recorded on the go in the paddock rather than the end of day which for most farmers in day light savings is on dark (9.30pm) so have little motivation to do it then. Good luck with improving the services in our area, we would love to be brought into the 21 st century Peter Blacket, Primary Producer, Wynarka What percentage of your property has mobile coverage? 40% Is mobile coverage a problem on neighbouring properties? Yes What are the main problems for you of lack of mobile coverage? - Safety paramount especially in times of fire and or when local landline exchange goes out and also during day to day running of the farm and if someone needs to contact me in an emergency I m un-contactable, people come and find me in there vehicles has happened once son in a motor bike accident - Business efficiencies almost as important but can always go home and use landline but in daily pricing of grain during harvest I ve more than once missed good prices to inability to contact buyer - Inability to use certain digital technology is important but often can wait till evening - Cost: the other thing is the costs compared city users or mobile data and also loss of battery life due to phone constantly looking for signal, a few towers in correct spots across SA Mallee would solve a lot of issues could be as few as 5 towers. Also home internet is on mobile as well and begs the question why should I have to pay an extra $700 to $1000 for special antennae because of poor mobile signal and people in city do not have to, they take it for granted. Jody Hawkes, Owner Bowhill Engineering, Bowhill Our home location can only access Bigpond wireless via antennae; we have no mobile phone coverage (unless we are on the roof). Our business location (within Bowhill) has access to Bigpond and Internode; however plans are limited to 15GB per month. ~ 22 ~

23 I have been working with our IT company, Netcraft Australia and Nathan Gates from Telstra Business Centre in Murray Bridge to come up with some better options for us without luck! Less than 1% of our property has coverage - we only get coverage for mobiles if we are on our roof, for wireless broadband via a massive antennae. Most of our neighbours do not have coverage (except when standing on the roof!) The main problems with a lack of mobile coverage are: - Safety we have 4 children, a big issue not having mobile phone coverage at times of power outages (which is rather frequently) - Business efficiencies I work from home, the intermittent quality and lack of appropriate/available plans to suit our requirements is very frustrating. - Inability to use certain digital technology webinars & online learning tools are slow and tedious, downloads often hang and have to reload pages over and over - Other pricing for plans and speed is very expensive compared to our city counterparts, not only do we have slow speeds, but we have to pay a premium price. - The biggest Telstra or Internode plan I can currently get is 15Gb for our business of 22 staff, we are frequently over this limit and then have to pay $39 per GB there-after, this is ridiculous considering many Adelaide plans are unlimited. I wouldn t even mind the price, if we had decent speeds. David Herrmann, Primary Producer, Bowhill I have put together a response for you about our mobile phone coverage! In short it is crap!!!!!! Some of the longer version is following! As you know we own and operate a reasonably large dryland cropping operation in the Murraylands based 10KM south of Bowhill on Lowan Road. Telecom put a tower on the north side of the river at Bowhill on not a very high hill so it really only services the river users( our city cousins) In my opinion if they had put it on the south side on a much much higher hill it would have serviced all the surrounding areas. We have one farm near Bowhill that has good to moderate coverage on Morrell Road which is only about 15% of our total property (3200 ha) the rest has some isolated pockets of coverage( mostly hilltops) which still can dropout without warning which makes it extremely difficult to make a decent call let alone run a business. It is so frustrating when you just can t get coverage where you re working and you have to drive back to the home office to ring back on the landline this is such a waste of my time, fuel and money! Mobile coverage is a problem for all my neighbours varying from a small % of coverage up to perhaps 90%(near Bowhill) certainly not enough for anyone to run a business from their mobile phones. Some of the problems I have encountered are as follows; receiving calls and answering only to find they have already dropped out or I answer then they drop out then I have to shift to a" perhaps" better spot and ring them back if they have a return number, only to sometimes find they are still ~ 23 ~

24 leaving a message on my answering service (which I will often because of poor coverage won't get till the next day) and I still can t talk to them! I also rely on receiving timely market information for my business thru SMS to make informed decisions for example ; grain pricing especially looking for opportunity "spikes" to sell grain on, sometimes only to find the SMS price was released hours earlier and /or I have to drive kilometres back home and the grain buyer has dropped his price! or I have a load of grain at the silo 60km away and the driver needs instructions on what to do or he has been held up and he can t get in contact with me he's left waiting and hoping I eventually will get his message and I have employees sitting around because we are full up with grain and we can t harvest, real examples which have cost me hundreds to many thousands of dollars every time it happens. Trying to make mobile calls whilst going about my business is very frustrating, time wasting and inefficient you can t keep spraying, seeding, harvesting or anything you have to stop what you are doing drive to a hilltop or the home office landline and then make or return a call (all businesses today want your mobile number thinking that they will be able to talk to you anywhere anytime but not in our area). I employ one full time and up to three casual employees at the busy times of harvest, hay making and seeding I feel very uncomfortable that I can t always contact them and know they can't always contact me in the event of an breakdown it means wasted time, an emergency such as a fire or accident it could mean a tragedy by not being able to know they need help and get it to them quickly. We held off purchasing our I phones so we could choose the best make and model available which had been proven to have the best reception in our area there is still no better available.we have to charge our phones every night a real inconvenience because they use so much battery power searching for reception all day when we are staying in a town or city it is only every 2nd or 3rd day you need to charge! Just to be able to carry out a mobile phone conversation from 90% of the property without it dropping out would just be unbelievable but our city cousins would think it was the end of the world if they didn t have 100% coverage! Concerned rural tax payer David Herrmann of the Partnership DJ & SD Herrmann 956 Lowan Road Bowhill 5238 SA ph Mobile #### note poor or no coverage ~ 24 ~

25 Ham Ackland, Primary Producer, Bowhill What percentage of your property has mobile coverage? At a guess 40 % And a somewhat smaller amount of that is reliable, or adequate signal. Is mobile coverage a problem on neighbouring properties? Absolutely!!! What are the main problems for you of lack of mobile coverage? Safety, Business efficiencies, Inability to use certain digital technology Any other comments All of the above are relevant and major issues. Every day the rest of the world, including our competitors, and our business allies and partners, become more and more expecting of us being able to instantly access mobile digital technology and make use of it at any time or place. This ranges from simple communications through to data transfer involved in marketing, product procurement and support, remote machine monitoring, operational control, and fault diagnosis and rectification. It is proving difficult trying to do business with others who take digital capability for granted, and really find themselves incapable of grasping the concept of having none, or inadequate coverage. They invariably get frustrated with the difficulties and time issues, and as a result we continually find ourselves at a serious economic, social and lifestyle disadvantage. ~ 25 ~

26 Southern Mallee- Located east of Murray Bridge and just west of the SA/Vic Border. Includes the towns of Lameroo, Pinnaroo and Parilla Bruce Pocock, Primary Producer, 20km north of Lameroo We have virtually no reception inside our house but can see the tower in Lameroo. We have Mobile internet with an external aerial on the roof and have excellent coverage with Telstra. Mobile reception on the farm is just OK if you are on higher ground. We use external aerials on our utes and I use Telstra and have a blue tick phone. We are only 20 Kms to Lameroo by road on the Karoonda - Lameroo Rd. Our neighbours to the west virtually have no reception. As a safety aspect it would be nice to have a good mobile (coverage). Running a business, particularly at harvest - good reception would help no end, especially when calling carriers. A couple of years ago we were up at Radium Hill, way off the Barrier Highway when my phone rang with wool prices. If I had been home I would have had to wait for an . Louise Flohr, Consultant, Lameroo What percentage of your property has mobile coverage? 80% Is mobile coverage a problem on neighbouring properties? yes, a problem. We are right on the edge of coverage, 4 km north has very little coverage i.e. between Lameroo and loxton, there is very little coverage at all ~ 26 ~

27 What are the main problems for you of lack of mobile coverage? Safety, Business efficiencies, especially at busy times. Riverland- North East of Adelaide encompassing the northern parts of the River Murray in SA east to the Border. Includes the towns of Waikerie Loxton, Berri, Renmark. A - Loxton ~ 27 ~

28 Anne May, Primary Producer, 15km south of Loxton Where to start... All you need to do is look at my Telstra history (complaints with Telstra) to see I have been complaining and trying to get better service for over a decade... Yes they have that much history on me! We have struggled with mobile coverage from the get-go. As you know a farming business relies on mobile use; harvest and seeding time particularly, and internet coverage is vital if you want to survive as a business in the industry. I have constant " landline " issues even as resent ago as YESTERDAY where my landline was giving engaged signal and cutting out on me. It is fair to say with crappy landline I will never be able to have ADSL. So that is my next problem the internet. I pay a fortune for Telstra wireless that I only really get 60% value from. You can guarantee during the hours on 4pm to 11pm and mostly all weekend I have trouble. The issue is congestion and Telstra are well aware of it. They told me that was the problem. So my internet is reduced to very slow speeds that often times out. Not very beneficial if I'm trying to sell grain and monitor prices... Yes potential loss of big $$$$$$ for our business. And then to our mobile phones which are an imperative tool for our business, for efficiency, safety, and mobile phones are the way our industry is going, no one rings our landline it s always the mobile. For years when we first got phones my mobile had to sit on the window sill (with one bar of service) and then I had to ring whoever back on the landline... We have had to get a big antenna for the roof and a smart antenna to be able to get any mobile in the house. This lets us have about 50 meters of service around the house. Other than that most of the 7000 ha is black spots, unless you are on a hill!! I constantly am looking for ways to get better mobile service and not be paying a fortune for the services I have. I get so frustrated that my "townie neighbours" have all I have BUT only spend a quarter of what it costs me, and I am not even getting a particularly good service. To TELSTRA'S defence they have tried to help and support me all the way and I am very grateful for this. Telstra have suggested phone brands for me and are very helpful when I have drama's - which unfortunately is a lot. ~ 28 ~