ANALOGUE MOBILE NETWORK TO BE
RETAINED AND EXPANDED
The NSW Rural Fire Service Association has called upon the Federal Government to re-think its plan to phase out the analogue mobile phone network, and has declared its support for APUMP, the lobby group which is fighting the proposed phase-out.
Boyd Munro, President of APUMP, said that APUMP is delighted to have the support of such a well-regarded organisation. "The NSW Rural Fire Service Association represents 70,000 fire fighters. These are our front-line troops, the people who protect us against the menace of the bushfire. It's a national disgrace that the government should even think of phasing out the analogue mobile phone network, given its tremendous value to emergency services such as Bush Fire Brigades. We ought to do everything possible to assist the Bush Fire Brigades, and instead we're taking away a very valuable tool - the analogue mobile phone. You don't ask an army to march in second-rate boots, and it's just as wrong to take analogue mobile phones away from our fire- fighters."
"There is no technical reason to phase out the analogue mobile phone system" claims Munro. "It is a cynical commercial move designed solely to prop up the balance sheets of Optus and Vodafone, who made a mistake in investing in the GSM digital system which has proven ill-suited to Australia. The analogue system provides far superior coverage because it performs much better in Australian conditions than the GSM digital system does, and this has tremendous importance in fighting bushfires such as those which surrounded Sydney in 1994. The GSM digital system needs up to four times as many phone towers to provide the same coverage, and those towers simply won't be built - because of environmental objections and because of cost. Our government should not protect companies like Optus and Vodafone (not Vodaphone) from the consequences of their own mistakes in any circumstances. But when that protection harms the ability of emergency services to protect life and property, it says that this government has its priorities completely wrong."
The NSW Rural Fire Service Association joins a growing list of Organisations (including local Councils in every state) which have thrown their weight behind APUMP's campaign. To date the government has not wavered from its position that users of analogue mobile phones must simply throw their phones away by the end of 1999 without any compensation. But there are more than 2 million analogue users, and an election must be held within 18 months.
...ends
Note. The motion passed unanimously by the NSW Rural Fire Service's State Council, meeting at Katoomba on 8th November, was
"That due to the lack of coverage and reliability of the Digital Network, the Rural Fire Service Association calls upon the Federal Government to maintain and expand the Analogue network and that we support APUMP in this task."
9th November, 1997. ...ends
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