Telstra, Optus Delay 3G Closure To October End Amid Public Safety Concerns

Australia's telecom companies, Telstra and Optus, have delayed their 3G closure till October end due to concerns about public safety.

The telcos had planned the 3G shutdown by August end but will now close on Oct. 28, 2024.

The companies delayed the shutdown following concerns regarding the inability of some phones to connect to triple zero emergency network. They announced Wednesday that the extra time would be used to create public awareness about the need to upgrade their phone networks to 4G or 5G, specially for emergency calls, The Guardian reported.

Optus and Telstra stated that their latest campaign would target the final group of customers to take action as majority of them were already on devices that were compatible with the latest network.

The telecom companies have been educating customers since 2019, when the 3G shutdown was announced.

"This has included multiple letters, bill messages, SMS, public awareness campaigns, advertising – even door knocking and sending free phones to people in vulnerable circumstances," Telstra CEO Vicki Brady said.

Appearing before a parliamentary inquiry on the shutdown, in July, Telstra submitted that it had 399,000 internet-of-things devices (such as water meters, electricity meters and more) that are not 4G-capable, 63,000 early-version smartwatches and 45,000 wireless broadband devices or tablets.

Optus claimed about 100,000 devices used by small and large businesses, including payment terminals, monitoring and telemetry devices.

Communications minister, Michelle Rowland called the delayed shutdown a sensible move. "The government remains concerned about a subset of 4G phones configured by the manufacturer to default to 3G for triple zero calls, and personal medical alarms that rely on the 3G network."

The National Rural Alliance, meanwhile, warned that despite the assurances given by the telcos, thousands of people might be affected by the network shutdown as pacemakers, oxygen and cardio monitors and fall alarms may stop sending updates, reported ABC News.

National Rural Alliance Chief executive Susie Tegan worried that people in remote areas would be impacted even leading to death.

"I think often we forget about those people that do not have the money or the understanding of what a shutdown will mean to them," she said. "The old devices that people currently are not necessarily compatible with the newer 4G and 5G networks."

The farmers, too, were concerned about the changeover. "People are saying they don't have coverage now where they did have coverage 12 months ago, or they had coverage across 80 per cent of their farm, and now they've only got coverage across 30 or 40 per cent of their farms," John Gladigau, a grain grower in South Australia's northern Mallee and chair of Grain Producers South Australia, said.

Telstra's executive for technology development Channa Seneviratne said this could be last extension. "It's really about what we've heard communicating to our customers and stakeholders about the need to have a little bit more time," he said.