The Regional Telecommunications Review is an independent review that takes place every three years to consider whether people in regional, rural and remote parts of Australia have equitable access to telecommunications.

 

Summary: 

ACCAN’s submission draws upon the experiences of people living and working in regional Australia based on online consultations, telephone interviews, gathering case studies through consumer contacts and speaking with consumer advocates at conferences and seminars.

ACCAN’s submission focuses particularly on:

  • communications needs of Indigenous people and communities;
  • mobile phone coverage; and
  • consumer issues.

We also briefly discuss small business issues and regional health and education outcomes.

ACCAN’s recommendations include:

  • suggesting strategies to be employed to expand mobile coverage in regional areas;
  • benchmarking of the impact of the changing telecommunications landscape particularly upon disadvantage and vulnerable groups within regional Australia;  
  • telecommunications service providers implementing cultural awareness training for their staff;  
  • telco financial hardship policies being benchmarked against the financial hardship policies of other industries;
  • low-income measures for broadband;
  • urgent review of the Draft Payphone Instruments proposed by DBCDE by the regional review committee;
  • greater awareness of consumer rights and access to culturally appropriate training in digital literacy;
  • technical assistance be readily available to encourage use of the NBN and to promote social inclusion;
  • the collection of quality of service data annually about the speed, reliability and affordability of consumers’ internet services.

For a full copy of the recommendations, download the submission below.

Submission to: Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee

Status:Submitted

Download: Regional Telecommunications Review 2011 [Adobe Acrobat PDF - 296.44 KB]

Download: Regional Telecommunications Review 2011 [Word Document - 1.11 MB]