Telstra Weighs Up Network Agnosticism During Disasters.
Telstra Weighs Up Network Agnosticism – Telstra is considering the possibility of embracing network agnosticism that would be applied during natural disasters.
As part of planning, the company will trial opening its mobile network to all phone users during natural disasters should other networks be impacted. The trial will kick off in the next couple of month’s – before the worst of this summer’s fire season.
Telstra’s regional Australia executive, Loretta Willaton, said operationally, the trial look at the effectiveness of Telstra’s emergency roaming being enabled during natural disasters.
“With the number and severity of natural disasters increasing, industry and government have been discussing the technical and commercial hurdles that will need to be overcome before emergency roaming can be introduced,” Willaton said.
“To help guide that conversation we’ll shortly be conducting a simulation within our own network as a first step to demonstrate it’s possible.
“We will continue to engage with other network providers and government on emergency roaming, including how it will operate and be funded, as well as the timing for roll-out.”
Telstra Weighs Up Network Agnosticism During Disasters
At the same time, Telstra is trialling portable satellite connectivity using the Starlink service that can be used to support remote locations during disaster. Telstra signed up with Starlink early July for a voice-only and voice-plus broadband service to support rural Australians, who are signing up for Starlink satellite broadband services in record numbers.
Telstra’s plans are thrown into higher relief by the recent failure of the Optus network, the latter of which poses questions for security teams around redundant communications paths.
You can learn more about Telstra’s diaster preparation here and read more SEN news here.
“Telstra Weighs Up Network Agnosticism During Disasters.”
