Labor’s plan to introduce a Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation to boost regional and remote phone coverage has been welcomed by veteran MPs Warren Entsch and Bob Katter. Photo: Cape York Weekly.
Labor’s plan to introduce a Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation (UOMO) if it wins the 2025 federal election has received support from across the floor from two MPs whose electorates will be among those most set to benefit from the announcement.
The Albanese government announced on 26 February it would require mobile carriers to provide access to mobile voice and SMS almost everywhere across Australia, including the estimated 93 per cent of Leichhardt currently without coverage.
Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch welcomed the election promise and said he believed it would require a combination of technologies to be effective in the vast electorate.
“I think that it makes a lot of sense,” he said of the UOMO plan.
“Given the remoteness and the challenges up in some of those areas, and the sparse population, I think it has to be a combination of services to make it work.
“I’ve been encouraging people to use Starlink now as long as it’s been available.
“The key is to make sure they’re affordable – that’s what we need to do.”
Kennedy MP Bob Katter said he “cautiously welcomed” the announcement, but added it was critical the UOMO became a reality, not just a campaign pledge ahead of the election.
“This is a win,” he said.
“For the last 18 months, we have been tenaciously working with the minister and her team to get a real and enforceable [UOMO] that will deliver essential mobile coverage, regardless of one’s distance from metro areas.
“However, we note that it is one thing to make a commitment on the eve of an election, but another entirely to ensure it is actually enforced.
“We need a telecommunications sector that works for all Australians, whether they live in the city or the bush; people have had enough of the tyranny of distance, and Telstra’s monopoly over rural services has gone on long enough.”
