Heeding the call from cotton growers for action to end the ‘data drought’, Cotton Australia has in recent months been working hard within a coalition to bring about change on this important issue.
We have joined the Regional, Rural & Remote Communications Coalition (RRRCC), a gathering of farming, regional and telecommunications groups calling for quality, reliable and affordable telecommunications services in the bush.
Cotton growers are like most farm enterprises, relying on digital technologies to run efficient, productive, safe and businesses. Sadly, the current levels of service hamper our ability to fully take advantage of the technologies available.
The RRRCC has called on political leaders to recognise the challenges faced by users, bridge the digital divide and unlock the full economic potential of rural Australia through improved connectivity.
It has developed five fundamental outcomes to support equitable connectivity for regional and remote consumers:
- A universal service obligation that is technology neutral and provides access to both voice and data: Australians should have guaranteed minimum access to data and voice, with no degradation in current service, regardless of their location. The Copper Continuity Obligation should remain until a suitable alternative is in place.
- Customer service guarantees and reliability measures to underpin the provision of voice and data services and deliver more accountability from providers and nbn: connection and repair timeframes, reliability, adequate performance levels and safeguards for vulnerable consumers need to be re-examined and updated.
- Long term public funding for open access mobile network expansion in rural and regional Australia: an ongoing commitment to spend $60 million each year on the Mobile Black Spot program, at a minimum, should be established to ensure the continued expansion of the mobile footprint
- Fair and equitable access to Sky Muster satellite services, and access which reflects the residential, educational and business needs of rural and regional Australia: a roadmap for how Sky Muster capacity will evolve to allow for future needs is required, along with plans for additional and alternative technologies to ensure consumer and business requirements are met in future.
- Fully resourced capacity building programs that build digital ability, and provide learning and effective problem solving support for regional, rural and remote businesses and consumers: a minimum of $5 million annually is required for a grants program for independent digital technical support and capacity building. This small investment now will deliver long term benefits over time.
In February, Cotton Australia spent two days with Telstra executives on a tour of the cotton industry, visiting three farms in northern NSW. The trip gave informed them about our industry and highlighted the technology being used on farm and the telecommunications needs of our industry now and into the future.
In March, Cotton Australia and its allies in the RRRCC converged on Canberra, meeting with more than 50 Parliamentarians over two days, to seek bipartisan support of our policy goals. Coalition members highlighted the challenges faced by regional communities with poor telecommunications services and the emphasised the opportunities and broad scale benefits bridging the urban to regional digital divide will have.
Moving forward, Cotton Australia will work with the RRRCC to influence and shape the dialogue around regional telecommunications, make legislators and regulators fully aware of the challenges of poor telecommunications services in the bush, and highlight the opportunities improved services will bring to regional Australia and our national economy.
