Half the respondents to a Federated Farmers survey this September report a drop in mobile coverage over the past year.

Federated Farmers telecommunications spokesperson and national board member Mark Hooper says the main change in that time is the 3G network shutdown.

“We’re not trying to solve what the technical problems are, but just saying, ‘Hey, the issue is real out on farm,’” he says.

He says calls over data can travel by satellite, but 111 calls still rely on the terrestrial network.

“If we wanna use a data-based system for 111, we’ve gotta make some changes to the system in order to be able to do that.”

Hooper says irrigation, effluent and livestock monitoring also need mobile coverage.

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