Telcos under scrutiny for communication loss during bushfires in Australia
A Tinonee resident helps to fight spot and grass fires in the Hillville area near Taree, New South Wales, on Nov 13, 2019.PHOTO: EPA-EFE. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.
CANBERRA, Jul 2, 2020, SBS News. Telecommunications providers have not done enough to ensure people can get vital emergency alerts during bushfires, the head of a royal commission has suggested, SBS News reported.
Bushfires royal commission chair Mark Binskin has questioned whether the telcos have focused on commercial considerations rather than the risk to communities, who rely on their services as their primary source of information.
“You are predominantly the major source of information for the community in a system that is now being designed where the community is fed information to be able to make decisions for themselves on when to go, and that’s the way the warning system works,” he told the major telcos.
“And I will be honest with you, I’m not sure that as a group you’ve actually looked at it in that way.”
Addressing representatives from Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and the NBN, Mr Binskin said there was evidence that previous efforts to get the communications sector to work closer together in understanding the risks had “basically been useless”.
About 1400 telecommunications facilities were impacted at the peak of the bushfire season in December and January, largely due to power outages.
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