A King Island resident was unable to reach Triple Zero during a medical emergency after losing all mobile phone reception for more than a month, according to Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) documents now under investigation. The incident has intensified concern about the island’s ongoing telecommunications black spots and the reliability of 000 access, despite a recent $9.8 million upgrade aimed at solving long-standing coverage problems.
The failure occurred in the context of a series of network disruptions on King Island over the past two years. In August 2024, a Telstra transmission fault caused multiple mobile towers to go offline, prompting the King Island Council to warn residents that 000 calls from mobiles “may be affected.” Although the major infrastructure upgrade completed between 2021 and 2024 delivered a new over-water microwave link, improved fibre backhaul and fresh mobile sites across the island, pockets of poor or unpredictable reception have continued. Severe weather in July 2025 then triggered another significant outage, one that ultimately left the resident at the centre of the TIO case without mobile service for more than a month and unable to call 000 when he needed it most.
The TIO documents outline how the man’s mobile service failed on 5 July 2025 and remained unusable. When he attempted to call 000 during a medical emergency on 4 August, he “could not get through.” With no mobile reception and no landline in place at the time, he had no way to contact emergency services. Telstra initiated a police welfare check on 8–9 August after being unable to reach him, and a landline, protected under the Universal Service Obligation (USO), was only installed after police confirmed he was safe. The resident told the Ombudsman he had contacted “47 different people over 120+ hours” while attempting to restore service.
Mayor Marcus Blackie said the situation reflects broader concerns about emergency-call reliability on the island.
“We have experienced some 000 emergency network outages on King Island over the past year and those concerns were taken directly to Telstra. As I understand it, in response some specialist teams were deployed to make technical adjustments and further fine-tune our network here. We trust that they rectified most of the issues, but would appreciate a full update from Telstra on the current status and performance of our critical King Island mobile phone network.”
Telstra’s Tasmania Regional General Manager, Michael Patterson, said emergency calls remain the company’s highest priority.
“Emergency calls are always our top priority. Our mobile network is designed to recognise and prioritise Triple Zero (000) calls above everything else, so help can reach you as quickly as possible when it matters most.”
“The island’s unique topography and building design—many homes and businesses are built in hollows to shield from strong winds—can make it harder for mobile signals to reach every location. This means there may be pockets where coverage is limited or unavailable, despite our best efforts. We encourage anyone affected to get in touch so we can investigate the specific circumstances and explore solutions, including a Blue Tick device, an external antenna or a review of the network in a specific location by one of our experts.”
Older devices that do not support 4G with VoLTE may be unable to make 000 calls, especially after the nationwide 3G shutdown, which removed a fallback emergency-call path for incompatible handsets.
Telstra has recently updated its list of mobile phones that are no longer compatible with the network following the 3G shutdown and subsequent upgrades, as required by new ACMA rules obliging carriers to identify, notify and disconnect devices that cannot place emergency calls.
The resident’s inability to reach 000 appears to contradict Telstra’s background assurances and will be examined further by the TIO.
The island’s recent network upgrade, co-funded by the Australian Government ($5.39 million), King Island Council (over $800,000), Telstra and the Tasmanian Government, delivered a world-first over-water microwave link to Cape Wickham, 4G small-cell sites in Currie and Grassy, macro upgrades at Naracoopa and Yambacoona, and more than 50 kilometres of new fibre intended to stabilise the network and reduce black spots. While the upgrades have greatly improved capacity and backhaul resilience, Telstra acknowledges that terrain-related weak spots remain, with residents continuing to report inconsistent coverage along Pegarah Road, the Naracoopa–Huxley Hill corridor, parts of inland farming districts, and some areas around Reekara.
The King Island issues mirror national concerns that prompted record ACMA penalties. In late 2024, Optus was fined $12 million for a 2023 outage that left 2,145 customers unable to reach 000, Telstra was fined $3 million for a 90-minute emergency-call handling failure involving 127 mis-routed calls, and Optus received a separate $8 million penalty for further emergency-service compliance breaches.
These failures led to sweeping regulatory changes. The Telecommunications (Emergency Call Service) Amendment Determination 2024 now requires carriers to identify devices incapable of calling 000, notify and assist affected customers, and disconnect non-compliant handsets. The Determination also introduces “wilting”, a process that forces a failing tower offline so mobiles can roam onto another network for emergency calls although this does not benefit King Island as Telstra is the only mobile network provider. The Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Triple Zero Custodian and Emergency Calling Powers) Bill 2025, now before Parliament, proposes a national Triple Zero Custodian with real-time authority to direct carriers during outages.
For King Island, where many households now rely exclusively on mobile phones, these reforms intersect with a critical limitation: the USO guarantees only a landline, not mobile coverage. Mobile services are not covered by the Customer Service Guarantee (CSG), meaning outages that affect only mobile phones, such as the one at the centre of the TIO case, do not constitute a breach of Telstra’s legal obligations.
The Ombudsman has issued Telstra with “Outstanding Issues” and a “Requested Resolution” notice and gave the company until 10 November to respond
