If you are one of the 7 million Australians living rurally[1], there is a high chance you have faced the challenges of internet access.
Usage trends indicate that those in rural areas are using the internet substantially less for social networking and more for services that matter. Due to the isolation of many communities; rural Australians depend on ready access to stable internet connections for distance learning, banking, and telehealth conferencing (just to name a few).
In a digitally evolving economy, our collective participation cannot be maximised if members of the population are still facing barriers to their participation. Globalisation also raises concerns that regional and rural Australians may be left behind with reliable internet access. The ability to get online is no longer just a “nice-to-have” for Australians living out of the main cities. The UN now considers internet access a human right, going as far as to build it into its stance on digital rights.
Why is rural internet access more challenging?
According to the CSIRO, it seems the further out you live, the more challenging internet access becomes. For users looking to get around these issues, the options available are USB dongles and mobile hotspots. The digital divide between coastal/urban and regional/rural can be traced back to the following factors:
Lack of Infrastructure
Australia is a large and geographically megadiverse island country. Our total land area contains a wide variety of landscapes and climates including, deserts, rainforests, and mountain ranges. Internet service providers must contend with barriers created by these physical landmarks when building rural services. Hills, lakes, rivers, and mountains all of which make it difficult to build telecommunications infrastructure. Physical limitations also combined with harsh weather conditions can also make it hard to complete new work or upgrade existing systems.
Lack of Demand
Regional and remote areas make up most of Australia’s landmass. Yet, the population is predominantly concentrated in large cities along the coastlines. With the highest demand for streaming and internet usage coming from large cities, it can mean that new networks are more likely to be built in these areas.
Lack of Service
The most evident difficulty in reliable internet access is experienced when things go wrong and someone needs to fix it. A submission to the last Regional Telecommunications Review has found that there is a regional skills shortage that prevents technical issues from being readily addressed. This finding was made by the BIRRR, an advocacy group for improving the standard of telecommunications services outside of the major cities. It found that in addition to a lack of available technicians, the large distances between communities can make it hard to attend to infrastructure failures and reduce time to reconnection.
When will rural areas get higher speed internet?
Thankfully, the digital access gap between rural and urban-living Australians is narrowing. Since 2014, more rural Australians have access to nbn™ fixed broadband services than in previous years. Thanks to a prioritisation of rural areas in the nbn™ rollout, these communities are leading the way in take-up rates and improvements to access. To see what internet is available at your address check out our nbn™ Rollout Map.
In addition, the next Regional Telecommunications Review has also been announced for 2021 to gauge the needs of regional, remote, and rural communities. By the end of the year, the committee will make recommendations to the government on how it can increase the performance of telco services. These should place a renewed focus on the unique challenges of this sector and put new initiatives in place that will go a long way towards improving the quality of access for all.
What internet services do we provide?
Southern Phone provides nbn™ broadband and nbn™ Sky Muster™ Plus broadband to communities all over Australia. We offer nbn™ plans for both residential customers and small businesses.
From our head office in Moruya as well as our regional office in Bendigo, we have a dedicated customer service team that understands the challenges faced by regional and rural Australians. Our teams are available 7 days a week (8am -6pm AEST) via phone and live chat.
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[1] https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/rural-and-remote-health