What does it actually mean to have mobile coverage in Australia?

Yesterday I spoke in support of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation) Bill 2025

— and I want to unpack what this bill actually does, because behind the legislative language is something pretty simple and long overdue.

The bill does one thing: for the first time, it brings mobile voice and SMS into Australia’s universal service framework. That means if you’re standing outdoors under an open sky in Australia, and it’s technically feasible to connect you, the law will require that connection to be reasonably available. Not streaming. Not high-speed data. Just the ability to make a call or send a text.

You might be wondering why that isn’t already the law. Fair question.

Australia’s universal service obligation was built around fixed-line telephone services and payphones. It made sense in 1999. In 2026, for millions of Australians — particularly younger Australians — a mobile handset is their telephone. But the law hasn’t caught up.

Here’s the reality: about 99% of Australians live and work in areas with terrestrial mobile coverage. That statistic gets quoted in this building a lot. But geographically, conventional tower infrastructure covers only about one-third of Australia’s landmass. Two-thirds of the continent sits beyond it.

I’ve worked in that two-thirds. Before entering parliament I spent years as an electrician across WA, including remote mine sites. Disciplined, safety-conscious workplaces with toolbox meetings and risk assessments — and a payphone bolted to the accommodation block wall as the only reliable external connection. You walked out past the camp and your phone showed no service. You knew the exact stretch of highway where reception dropped out. You planned around it. You told your family you’d call back once you were in range.

Acceptance isn’t adequacy. It just reflected the limits of the technology at the time.

That technology has now moved forward. Low-Earth-orbit satellites can connect standard mobile handsets directly — no dish, no special equipment. SMS capability is already emerging commercially. Voice is following. This bill sets the legislative expectation now, so that as the technology scales up, deployment aligns with universal access principles rather than purely commercial ones.

Telstra, Optus and TPG will be designated as default providers with a legislated commencement date. The Australian Communications and Media Authority will oversee compliance. This isn’t aspirational — it’s enforceable.

For freight corridors stretching hundreds of kilometres. For remote communities. For tourists driving through landscapes where the distance between service centres is vast. For workers spending weeks away from home who just want to send a message. The baseline matters.

It doesn’t erase geography. It doesn’t promise perfection. It sets a floor — and for a continent this size, that floor is long overdue.