A Senate committee has urged the federal government to delay the scheduled shutdowns of Telstra and Optus’s 3G mobile networks, citing concerns over the impact on phones and other devices that are yet to be upgraded.

Telstra previously delayed its 3G network closure from the end of June to 31 August, while Optus is expected to close its network in September.

An interim report published on Thursday by the Senate’s Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Reference Committee recommended the government delay further 3G closures and do more to assist consumers and organisations.

“The committee has received and heard evidence that Australia is inadequately prepared for the shutdown of the 3G mobile network,” the interim report said.

“There are still an unknown number of non-mobile devices that will be affected by the shutdown.

“These devices can be found in industries including health, surveying, agriculture, and emergency services, as well as everyday devices such as EFTPOS terminals and elevators.”

Committee chair and Nationals senator Matthew Canavan said the committee had asked Communications Minister Michelle Rowland to meet with Telstra and Optus to request the companies push back their shutdowns.

“If they fail to agree to that, we’ve recommended that the minister use her powers to ensure that a delay occurs,” he said.

Canavan said the committee believed up to 1 million devices could be impacted.

He said he believed not enough time had been allowed for consumers and businesses to discover whether they needed to update their devices, including some 4G phones which won’t be able to make emergency calls after 3G networks close.

“This is a situation where a delay is prudent because it is better to be safe than sorry,” Canavan said.

‘There is more work to be done’

Australia’s telecommunications giants have been planning their 3G shutdowns for years, and Telstra and Optus publicly announced their shut-off dates in December 2023.

TPG, which owns Vodafone, shut down its 3G network between December 2023 and January 2024.

In its submission to the senate committee, TPG Telecom wrote that its 3G network closure “resulted in minimal disruption to customers, with very low levels of customer complaints”.

Neither Telstra nor Optus have indicated any plans to further delay their 3G shutdowns.


Telstra's 3G network had been scheduled to close at the end of June, but this was pushed back until the end of August. Photo: Telstra / Supplied

In June the government said around 283,000 older 4G phones in Australia were still at risk of being blocked from calling Triple-0 after the switchover — but that number has since fallen to around 77,000.

Minister Rowland said the government was “particularly concerned” with these devices, and believed the switchover from 3G needed to be done “in a safe way”.

“The industry has undertaken significant effort to identify and contact and communicate with customers who may be affected and has introduced financial hardship measures for vulnerable customers and elderly people. There is more work to be done,” she said.

“I established a working group with industry and my department earlier in the year when the potential scale of these issues was first identified.

“Since then, the industry and my department have been meeting regularly, often on a daily basis, to work to address adverse consumer impacts arising from the switchover.”

The opposition’s spokesperson for communications, David Coleman, has accused the government of taking “too long to act” to inform consumers of the network changes, and has urged Rowland to delay further shutdowns.

“The inquiry report confirmed that the government was warned about the problems of 4G phones not being able to call the emergency triple-0 service as far back as June and July last year,” he said.

“… We are only in the mess now because of a government that failed to act quickly on the warnings and then moved at dial-up speed.”

Free checks and free phones

The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA), which represents the nation’s telco industry, launched a free online tool in June which allowed people to check if their phone would be impacted by 3G network shutdowns.

Telstra and Optus customers can also text ‘3’ to ‘3498’ and their provider will respond with advice on whether their devices will be impacted.


Telstra and Optus customers can text ‘3’ to ‘3498’ to check for any issues with their device. Photo: Telstra / Supplied

Telstra announced in June that it would offer around 12,000 free phones to “customers who are in difficult situations, live rurally or are elderly”.

The company said there were around 156,000 customers who needed to upgrade their devices at that time.

Optus announced in July that it would offer around 20,000 free phones to certain customers, including “those enduring financial hardship, the elderly and others experiencing challenges obtaining a new handset”.

The company said it had already sent more than 2.6 million messages to customers impacted by the 3G shutdown, including on email, SMS and in posted letters.

The senate committee’s final report on the shutdown of the 3G mobile network is due by 30 November.