Warning about closure of large part of analogue phone system on December 31

27/12/99
People planning on using their analogue mobile phones to call a taxi, or friends overseas, in the early hours of New Year's Day may find they've lost their service, but it won't be because of the Millennium bug!
Commerce and Trade Minister Hendy Cowan said country people celebrating the new Millennium in the city may be among the worst affected, but many thousands of Perth residents could also be caught unprepared.
Mr Cowan said the Federal Government had decided to close a large part of Australia's and the State's analogue phone system from midnight on December 31.
Areas affected in Western Australia include the metropolitan and surrounding areas including around Lancelin, Gingin and Harvey and then areas in a radius of about 50km around Northam and Merredin.
Mr Cowan said the Australian Communications Authority had decided that analogue systems in other regional centres throughout the State would not close until later in the Year 2000.
"While there have been a lot of warnings about this and many people would have changed to the digital (GSM or CDMA) systems, inevitably there will be those who have not," he said.
"In fact, Telstra has tens of thousands of analogue accounts still active in Western Australia.
"There may be a problem for people from parts of the State where the analogue network is still operating, but who may be in the city for the celebrations.
"Most people will be up and about on the night and many may be relying on being able to use their mobile phones.
"Also, there's a fair chance that anyone whose phone ceases to work will assume it is a Y2K problem and this may cause a degree of alarm."
Mr Cowan said analogue phone users concerned about the closure should call a 24-hour helpline 018 018 111 or seek more information about analogue network closures at: http://mobilenet.telstra.com.au/network/ancl_frm.htm

Media contact: Peter Jackson 9222 9595