Concerns abound in regional Queensland and beyond about the potential loss of fixed line telephone access

While they are able to access a mobile service with the aid of a booster, they are not willing to relinquish their landline and be at the mercy of varying signals.

“I still remember when our kids were little and had asthma attacks – we needed to know there was some reliable way to talk to doctors,” Danielle Butler said.

They are among thousands of rural people and representative organisations voicing opposition to the recommendation by the Productivity Commission to remove the mandate for every household to have a telephone landline.

The commission’s draft report, released in December, is the halfway point in a 12-month inquiry into the extent that the federal government should be required to support universal access to a minimum level of retail telecommunications services.

The report says that in a digital age, the voice-based USO – costed at $3 billion in present value terms over 20 years and introduced when telecommunications consisted of basic telephones and payphones – is “anachronistic and needs to change”.

“People’s preferences for ubiquitous connectivity, their seemingly insatiable appetite for data and the high value of digital data to businesses generally provide a strong case to revise Australia’s universal service policies,” it says.

A number of lobby groups, not least the Regional, Rural and Remote Communications Coalition, have come out in force in support of maintaining landline services.

Coalition members appeared at the Productivity Commission’s hearing into proposed changes to the USO in Sydney on Wednesday to voice their concern that reliable home phone services in the bush may be soon put at risk.

The commission is examining the possibility of transitioning voice services, currently delivered by the existing copper network, to National Broadband Network (nbn) infrastructure.

Effectively this would mean voice services would be delivered via satellite for users in rural and remote Australia.

“While we acknowledge the logic in transitioning to more modern infrastructure, this does not escape the fact that geographically a majority of users would be serviced via satellite – including areas that are currently serviced by the existing copper network,” said Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) CEO, Teresa Corbin.

“As a coalition we are adamant that a reformed USO must not result in a degradation of existing services.”

National Farmers Federation (NFF) President, Fiona Simson, is also concerned about the development.

“A transition to voice-over-nbn infrastructure could mean many users currently receiving a voice service over copper line would have their service replaced by an inferior, unreliable satellite service,” said Ms Simson.

“The Sky Muster satellite wasn’t designed to deliver universal voice services. A more acceptable long term solution needs to be found before any transition occurs.”

The most significant concern for the coalition is safety during such a transition.

"In emergencies a reliable voice connection can be the difference between life and death,” Ms Simson said.

“There are also issues around how remote businesses are expected to operate in a 21st century economy and meet their workplace health and safety obligations.

“This issue is of significant concern for the coalition and for this reason members will be appearing at as many hearings as possible over the coming weeks.”

The Productivity Commission’s public hearings timetable – which commenced on January 30 – covers Dubbo, Cairns, Sydney, Melbourne, Launceston and Port Augusta.

More information on the Productivity Commission’s TUSO inquiry is available at http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/telecommunications/draft