ACCAN wants temporary disaster roaming mandate

Consumer communications body ACCAN has called for mandated mobile roaming during disasters, after the three mobile telcos created a limited technical capability.

Telstra, TPG and Optus banded together to create temporary disaster roaming (TDR) this week, but it has a number of limitations.

According to a FAQ sheet published by the Australian Telecommunications Alliance (ATA), “TDR may be activated in up to three disaster-affected areas across Australia at the same time.”

“Each area can include up to 15 mobile sites, and impacted disaster areas must be at least 400 kilometres apart.”

It’s up to the telcos to determine whether network conditions can support the carriage of other traffic; is “designed to be run for short periods – typically around 24 hours at a time”; and won’t support medical devices.

ACCAN - the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network - said in a statement that TDR is better than no roaming at all, but raised concerns at the discretionary power of the telcos to enable and disable it.

"Any arrangement that helps people stay connected in a disaster is better than none. But we are concerned that this model relies heavily on telco discretion, and this won’t give many people confidence," ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett said.

"Public safety cannot rest on voluntary arrangements that the telcos can choose to turn on and off.

"We need this technology to work – and I look forward to collaborating with industry and government to set it up for success, but we know that best-efforts commitments from this sector often disappoint.

“At a minimum, we should see mandated temporary disaster roaming arrangements – at best we should mandate domestic mobile roaming."

ACCAN ultimately wants permanent domestic mobile roaming to be enshrined in law via amendments to the universal outdoor mobile obligation (UOMO) bill.

Previous attempts to amend the bill to mandate temporary disaster roaming in catastrophes were rejected as unnecessary.