Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
Speaker 1: It's Friday, July twenty four, twenty twenty six. Higher taxes
Speaker 1: on fossil fuels and wealth and maybe a tougher stance
Speaker 1: on Hermas. That's the prescription from Labour's party faithful as
Speaker 1: members and politicians gathering Adelaide for the ALP's annual conference.
Speaker 1: We've got live coverage of all the drama at The
Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot au. Next time your telco melts down,
Speaker 1: don't worry. Telstra has a backup plan and it involves
Speaker 1: Elon Musk's Starlink satellite network. In the aftermath of yet
Speaker 1: another embarrassing Telstra outage, we've brought in Technology editor Jared
Speaker 1: Lynch to analyze their so called solution and to explain
Speaker 1: exactly how a tech writer makes sure he never goes
Speaker 1: off the air. Jared Lynch is The Australian's Technology editor,
Speaker 1: and part of his job is digging through the en
Speaker 1: trails whenever we have one of the big telco outages
Speaker 1: that seem to be more and more frequent these days.
Speaker 1: The scale of the tragedy linked to Thursday's Optus outage
Speaker 1: is becoming clearer tonight.
Speaker 2: Another network letch that disrupted multiple Triple zero calls.
Speaker 1: Tens of thousands of people unable to make calls or texts.
Speaker 1: It's also impacting some emergency jared in the wake of
Speaker 1: Telstra's big outage which crippled some public transport networks, left
Speaker 1: shops and businesses without connectivity, having to do manual payments,
Speaker 1: and left some people unable to call Triple Oh, you've
Speaker 1: been looking at exactly what was going on at the time,
Speaker 1: and you've did and covered an intriguing link between Telstra
Speaker 1: and Elon Musk's stylink. What is that connection and what
Speaker 1: does it mean?
Speaker 3: Yes, it's quite prizing.
Speaker 2: Telstra CEO Vicky Brady revealed a bizarre workaround for people
Speaker 2: who if they found their phones were in the dark
Speaker 2: during the outage, that they still could have called Triple
Speaker 2: zero and not even rely on any other telco in
Speaker 2: Australia but Elon Musk. But there was a catch, and
Speaker 2: the catch was that they could only text for help,
Speaker 2: not Triple zero, but a family member or a friend
Speaker 2: thanks to satellite messaging, a deal that Telstra did with
Speaker 2: Elon Musk. Not that long ago to say help, I
Speaker 2: need Triple zero? Can you call them for me? And
Speaker 2: then if they were lucky and a family member or
Speaker 2: a friend read the text message, they go, oh they
Speaker 2: need help, no worries called Triple.
Speaker 3: Zero, Oh hang on, where are you? Are you here?
Speaker 2: And then they could get an ambulance, policeman, policewoman, firefighter,
Speaker 2: whatever it may be.
Speaker 3: To render assistance.
Speaker 2: So that was a pretty bizarre workaround, but it's one
Speaker 2: that Vicky Brady told senators could work.
Speaker 4: And brought satellite to mobile texting to our customers. Now
Speaker 4: you can't text Triple zero, but at least you can
Speaker 4: text someone in the event you're outside mobile coverage.
Speaker 3: The last one's a bit weird for me on your session.
Speaker 1: And so does that mean that the person receiving the
Speaker 1: text message would have to be a non Telstra customer
Speaker 1: if they were going to be the one to call
Speaker 1: TRIPLEO for you.
Speaker 3: Well, yes, that's the catch.
Speaker 2: Their phone would have to work so they could then
Speaker 2: call Triple zero and then be put in touch with
Speaker 2: emergency services. It's a very very sloppy work around, but
Speaker 2: it was one that they said could have work.
Speaker 1: Something Vicky Brady conceded and I was interested in your story.
Speaker 1: The way she framed it was that there were mobile
Speaker 1: dead zones. You've called them mobile dead zones, she calls them.
Speaker 1: Some customers experiencing changes in terms of how their experience
Speaker 1: was where they were. So that's a dead zone, right.
Speaker 3: Sounds a bit like Yoda, doesn't it.
Speaker 2: You know, or master your problems before your problems become
Speaker 2: your master?
Speaker 3: What that?
Speaker 2: Yes, it's a dead zone, but it's one of the
Speaker 2: joys that we have when we see CEOs who you
Speaker 2: know and one of Australia's biggest telca you think they'd
Speaker 2: be able to communicate in plain English.
Speaker 3: But that's what she said.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about what the difference is between all
Speaker 1: these types of signals that Telstra's providing at the moment.
Speaker 1: There used to be three G. That's what we all
Speaker 1: had back in the day. Now most of us are
Speaker 1: on five G. What's going on there and why does
Speaker 1: that make a difference in terms of whether you were
Speaker 1: able to get connections that day?
Speaker 2: So five G it works on a higher frequency, and
Speaker 2: that higher frequency is fantastic for higher data speeds. You
Speaker 2: can do a lot more on five G than what
Speaker 2: you couldn't on free G. That's why it was upgraded. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: those higher frequencies don't travel as far as the lower
Speaker 2: frequencies that free G operated on. And those lower frequencies,
Speaker 2: it wasn't only the distance that they could travel. They
Speaker 2: could also punch through walls for one of a better
Speaker 2: word more clearly. So if you were there in Holt Street,
Speaker 2: Claire and you're on a telstraphone or an Optus free
Speaker 2: G phone, there probably weren't as many mobile dead spots
Speaker 2: in the building because it was better at penetrating walls.
Speaker 2: And that's been a common complaint about people in the cities,
Speaker 2: people in the country.
Speaker 3: They have really had.
Speaker 2: It rough because they rely on mobile towers to travel
Speaker 2: vast distances to get reception. And that's what Vicky Brady
Speaker 2: has been questioned about during the outage, that since the
Speaker 2: free G's shutdown there have been people who once had
Speaker 2: reception now don't have any reception at all. How do
Speaker 2: you look after those people in a time of crisis
Speaker 2: when they need an emergency help, when they need to
Speaker 2: call Triple zero. And that's why the whole free G
Speaker 2: shutdown was pulled back into this outage.
Speaker 5: Around fifty nine thousand devices will no longer have service
Speaker 5: after this weekend and less devices are updated.
Speaker 1: It was shutting down the three gen network essential because
Speaker 1: farmers say that they once had coverage in remote paddocks
Speaker 1: for example, with three G that now just are simply
Speaker 1: not covered under the five G network.
Speaker 3: Geez, I remember growing up and farmers farm boy having
Speaker 3: CB radio if they needed help.
Speaker 2: And of course then mobile connectivity got really good, Like
Speaker 2: we went from two G to three G, things were
Speaker 2: working well, and then we went to four G five G.
Speaker 2: It's a real catch twenty two because we're demanding to
Speaker 2: do more online and have those faster data speeds, and
Speaker 2: in order to deliver that you need to have spectrum
Speaker 2: operating at those high frequencies five G.
Speaker 3: But for those people who.
Speaker 2: They don't want a bar of data, they just want
Speaker 2: to call, they just want to text, then three G
Speaker 2: was the superior technology.
Speaker 3: Should it have been shut down?
Speaker 2: Well, if Australia wants to decentralize itself and rely on
Speaker 2: the new digital internet economy and connectivity, then of course
Speaker 2: it needs to be shut chain because free G just
Speaker 2: can't deliver those speeds that modern economy demands. But that's
Speaker 2: still a very very bitter pill to swallow for those
Speaker 2: people who once had reception and now don't.
Speaker 1: Everyone I know who lives in the country or spends
Speaker 1: time in the country has now got a Starlink connection, Jared.
Speaker 1: This is Elon masks satellite network which provides incredible high
Speaker 1: speed Internet in the most remote of places. It's quite
Speaker 1: remarkable to see that the speed test go off the charts.
Speaker 1: When you turn on a Starlink connection. You can get
Speaker 1: them for your caravan or your fishing boat, or your
Speaker 1: house or your farm. It's the same technology used by
Speaker 1: soldiers in the field in Ukraine, for example, to connect and.
Speaker 5: Starling today as the backbone of the Ukrainian military communications.
Speaker 1: And Australians have absolutely fallen in love with it. Is
Speaker 1: there a risk for Australia in our increasing kind of
Speaker 1: uptake of Starlink that we become reliant that Elon must
Speaker 1: become someone who is an embedded part of our telecommunications network.
Speaker 1: And if he is, is that a bad thing.
Speaker 2: Elon must span the eye and the sky that could
Speaker 2: just switch it off whenever he feels like it, which
Speaker 2: is what he've threatened to do in Ukraine. You mentioned
Speaker 2: that's what soldiers on the ground use they're starlink.
Speaker 3: Of course there is.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you're putting all your eggs in one basket,
Speaker 2: it's starlink. As fantastic as it is, it's still a
Speaker 2: foreign own talco. And we've seen Donald Trump with his
Speaker 2: trade wars, how things can change on a whim.
Speaker 4: Reciprocal tariffs on countries throughout the world.
Speaker 6: Reciprocal That means they do it to us and we
Speaker 6: do it to them.
Speaker 3: Very simple.
Speaker 6: Can't get any simpler, and.
Speaker 2: It's not a wise choice to sort of put all
Speaker 2: our reliance in one operator. We need to have diversification
Speaker 2: here in our tailcos, and that diversification is in coming months,
Speaker 2: we're going to see Amazon enter the race with their
Speaker 2: stalin competitor, Amazon Leo. They've partnered with the NBN to
Speaker 2: deliver a Leo satellite broadband service, and that's when we're
Speaker 2: really going to see this satellite technology enter the mainstream
Speaker 2: because what we know about Amazon is it's almost like
Speaker 2: a race to the bottom in terms of cost, so
Speaker 2: we're going to see it really intensify. And then we've
Speaker 2: got homegrown companies like Gilmore Space which are trying to
Speaker 2: be ord Australia's sovereign capability in this regard. Unfortunately, Gilmore
Speaker 2: hasn't been able to successfully launch a rocket into orbit.
Speaker 2: They've maybe got a few feet off the ground and
Speaker 2: then to crash back down to Earth.
Speaker 3: But that just shows you the.
Speaker 2: Challenge is involved in this new satellite connectivity.
Speaker 1: There are reports or Telstra's admitted that it was basically
Speaker 1: a spare part that failed that was worth about thirty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars. How can that possibly have caused such a
Speaker 1: catastrophic outage?
Speaker 2: And it's a spare part that they were repeatedly warned
Speaker 2: about but ignored. So it wasn't like this was a
Speaker 2: head gasket in your old land Rover that suddenly went
Speaker 2: bang and you thought, oh, that's unfortunate. This was something
Speaker 2: of vulnerability that they knew could cause an issue.
Speaker 1: Here's Telstra CEO Vicki Brady and one of their technology executives,
Speaker 1: Jared Tracy, being questioned by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson Young.
Speaker 5: What about if you had replaced the piece of equipment
Speaker 5: well spencer thirty thousand bucks, that would the problem have happened?
Speaker 5: If you had spent the thirty thousand.
Speaker 4: Bucks, that will be part of the investigation or chair,
Speaker 4: because well, last I'm insta tracy.
Speaker 1: If this was a new.
Speaker 3: Server, would this have occurred?
Speaker 6: That'll have to be part of the investigation.
Speaker 3: What do you think would happen.
Speaker 6: The a newer piece of hardware operating in the same
Speaker 6: design that we intended to the issue wouldn't have happened,
Speaker 6: thank you, And.
Speaker 2: To many Australians that's just absolutely shocking because we accept
Speaker 2: outages happen. I mean, we're pretty understanding. We're not sort
Speaker 2: of like this entitled dogmatic sectional population. We're pretty relaxed.
Speaker 2: As Pauline Hansen said, we've become too relaxed, saying she'll
Speaker 2: be right mate all the time. But where we don't
Speaker 2: become relaxed is when we find out that a part
Speaker 2: which costs thirty thousand dollars that Telstra was warned as
Speaker 2: late as this year needed a software upgrade but said no, no, no,
Speaker 2: we're not using the part in that way, so we
Speaker 2: won't push through the upgrade. And then they were told
Speaker 2: that the part which was fifteen years old. Mind dude,
Speaker 2: you know, starting to creak a little bit in terms
Speaker 2: of technological infrastructure here, that if they just replaced it
Speaker 2: put the thirty thousand dollars.
Speaker 3: I mean, Telstra is a big company.
Speaker 2: They could have probably put someone could have probably put
Speaker 2: thirty grand on a b card like a corporate credit card,
Speaker 2: and just bought the thing and plugged it in bang Beego.
Speaker 3: And the outage would never happen.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is not technological complexity off mobile networks
Speaker 2: that failed here because they are complex beeces. This is
Speaker 2: more a result in a failure off corporate process. Too
Speaker 2: many people's and years ago, the former a Triple C
Speaker 2: chair Alan Fowls called for Telstra to be broken up.
Speaker 2: Maybe Telstra has become too big to notice the small stuff,
Speaker 2: and that conversation should be revisited.
Speaker 3: Jared.
Speaker 1: Whenever one of these network outages happen, they always seem
Speaker 1: to be very early in the morning, and there's always
Speaker 1: a frantic call from the news desk to Jared to
Speaker 1: get onto it and find out exactly.
Speaker 3: What's going on.
Speaker 1: How do you manage this? Have you got a telstraphone
Speaker 1: and an optor's phone and various connections at home to
Speaker 1: make sure you never go down?
Speaker 3: Not quite.
Speaker 2: It feels like in one of those old Cold War
Speaker 2: films we've got red Phone, dreen Phone. Not quite, but
Speaker 2: there are steps you can take to protect yourself against outages.
Speaker 3: For example, yes, I do have a Telstra mobile phone.
Speaker 2: My broadband home broadband is with Telstra, so early in
Speaker 2: the morning when the news desk freaks out there's been
Speaker 2: and outs, Jared get on top of it. I actually
Speaker 2: don't know that my mobile phone is out of faction
Speaker 2: because my home broadband has taken over with another provider
Speaker 2: and I've still got Wi Fi calling. I can still
Speaker 2: get texts from most people. But that was just one
Speaker 2: way that you can sort of shield yourself against some outages.
Speaker 2: Another way is to actually explore the world of e sims. Now,
Speaker 2: most phones can put one, two, three, four e sims
Speaker 2: in there, not a physical SIM, and some of these
Speaker 2: e SIM providers can you can buy plans for as
Speaker 2: little as one hundred dollars a year, so it can
Speaker 2: just be sitting in your phone, and as soon as
Speaker 2: an outage happens, whether it be with your provider of
Speaker 2: choice Telstra, Vota, Phone, Optus or any of those other
Speaker 2: smaller ones that use the Big three, it can switch
Speaker 2: over to one of those e sims. So the key
Speaker 2: is to just have these little strategies similar to like
Speaker 2: carrying a ten dollar note in the back of your
Speaker 2: pocket when you go for a run.
Speaker 3: So if there is.
Speaker 2: Running and you want to get a coffee and there's
Speaker 2: an outing like that, you've got that, you know, ten
Speaker 2: bob note shoved up somewhere that you can pull out
Speaker 2: and still get your cup of coffee.
Speaker 1: Yeah, women's This could get me onto a whole thing
Speaker 1: about women's running gear doesn't have pockets. It's very annoyed.
Speaker 1: You know where to put your phone and your key
Speaker 1: and you and you know, I do carry the fifty dolls,
Speaker 1: but it's not for a coffee. It's in case I
Speaker 1: want to get a cab home.
Speaker 3: You need to have a little backpack. Well, Jared, ire.
Speaker 1: Sure it won't be the last time we talk about
Speaker 1: a network outage. I hope you have connectivity next time
Speaker 1: we're trying to you're trying to cover one, So thank
Speaker 1: you very much. Jared Lynch is The Australian's Technology editor.
Speaker 1: You can check out his work anytime at the Australian
Speaker 1: dot com dot au