The 'no brainer' fix to mobile outages consumer groups want mandated | The Business | ABC NEWS

By ABC News (Australia)

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Calls are growing for domestic roaming to be mandated in Australia, with advocates claiming it would help give mobile users better access and more competitive prices. An Australian Communications Consumer Advocacy Network (ACCAN) report suggests 73 per cent of Australians support the change, which would allow customers to use their phones on another network when outside their provider's coverage area. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) last looked at the issue in 2017 and decided against it because it thought it would reduce incentives for telcos to invest in the network while the impact on prices was uncertain. The ACCC declined to be interviewed, but in a statement, a spokesperson said it was "understandable" there were increasing calls to mandate roaming. Telstra said the same challenges around competition and investment identified in the 2017 inquiry still applied, and that roaming would not have helped customers in the nationwide outage last week. A spokes

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