regional australia s technology future - telstra exchange...regional australia’s technology future...

Regional Australia’s Technology Future White Paper

02 Regional Australia’s Technology Future

At Telstra our vision is to be a world-class technology company that empowers people to connect.

We have this ambition because connection is at our core – it is who we are – and we know that for regional Australia the digital age makes connectivity vital to the success of communities and businesses. We also know it is fundamental in helping to close the geographic divide and service gaps experienced by some of our regional communities.

This White Paper examines some of the opportunities that innovation and new technology may bring to regional communities across Australia.

We have a long history in regional, rural and remote communities and we’re proud to be a part of the lives of millions of Australians across every corner of the country. We are particularly proud of our long term focus on optimising rural services, originally in the extension of telephony and automation of networks in the 1980’s through to each of the Generations of mobile technology. We have Australia’s largest mobile network, connecting about 17 million mobile services which make around 70 million voice calls each day. We also connect 7.2 million fixed voice services and 3.3 million fixed broadband services.

Millions of mum-and-dad shareholders own a part of Telstra, whether directly or through their superannuation. We employ around 36,000 people and have more than 180 stores in small towns and regional cities.

We have technicians, engineers and service staff in every part of the country. When natural disasters strike, Telstra’s there on the ground, reconnecting people and providing vital technology for emergency services.

We have continuously invested to stay ahead of the competition, and we are determined to keep improving our customers’ experiences.

To ensure investment continues to flow to regional communities, we need Australia’s regulators and policy makers to continue to set fair rules that reward investment and hard work. Imposing regulated mobile roaming would discourage investment in regional mobile infrastructure and relegate regional customers to the status of second class citizens – an undeserved status that will become ever more stark as metro customers enjoy continuous upgrades in mobile network technology, capacity and speed over time.

We know there’s still more work to do to meet all our customers’ expectations, particularly outside the major cities. It is not enough to simply meet the current expectations of our customers. To pave the way for a brilliantly-connected future, Telstra is already investing in what comes next.

Whether it’s providing telemedicine services to remote communities, helping deliver the world’s best education to isolated children, bringing millions of sensors and machines into the Internet-of-Things and boosting productivity through the analysis of their data, or simply getting more accurate long-range weather forecasts – we are taking action now to help deliver the kind of future that allows you to thrive.

Technology has always been a big part of the success of regional Australia. And as the power of technology increases, so too will the opportunities it can bring.

Andy Penn, CEO, Telstra

Foreword

Regional Australia’s Technology Future 03

To quote Paul Simon, “these are the days of miracle and wonder”. Technology over the past 50 years has played a significant role in our lives, but the next 20 years will see technology-driven change that will dwarf what we have witnessed to date.

Technology is set to change the human experience in some truly significant ways. We are moving towards having the ability to be anywhere at any time.

Our relationship with the technology itself is changing. The last quarter of the 20th Century was the ‘age of the geek’ – you had to understand the technology in order to use it. But in the first 25 years of this century technology is adapting itself to people so that anyone can use it. The interaction with the technology is becoming seamless and invisible but the impact is growing rapidly.

Our ever-increasing ability to measure the world around us (and the world inside our bodies) and communicate those

measurements to vast cloud data centres, is changing the way we interact with the real world. Because we can measure the world, we can analyse it and because we can analyse it we may be able to control it.

Day by day technology is becoming smarter, faster, smaller and even more ubiquitous. The machines we create are increasingly capable of performing complex human tasks. Soon you will be able to have your own personal cardiologist monitoring your heart health 24 hours a day, seven days a week – even if you are perfectly healthy.

The pace and scale of technological change means this is becoming perfectly feasible and can take place wherever

you are. These changes will open up huge opportunities for businesses in regional Australia to be more efficient and productive, as well as being more resilient and adaptable. Change also brings opportunity for communities to be healthier, happier and more in control of their lives and circumstances.

This White Paper is just a glimpse of some of the things Telstra, in collaboration with companies like Ericsson and organisations like the University of NSW (UNSW), is researching and developing today to make regional Australia’s tomorrow even better.

Dr Hugh Bradlow, Chief Scientist, Telstra

Introduction


Connectivity is vital to regional, rural and remote communities, which is why Telstra has consistently weighted network investments towards extending coverage. Over the last 10 years, 15 per cent of investment in our mobile network has gone to provide services to the most remote 2 per cent of the population.

With the launch of the NextG network 10 years ago our engineering expertise was used to optimise rural coverage and performance, which included:

• The world’s first 200km cell range

• The use of low band, coverage friendly 850 MHz spectrum

• The development of high powered ‘boomer cells’ to extend rural coverage

• The development of the prestigious Blue Tick standard to identify coverage friendly devices

In 2014 Telstra began rolling out 4GX – one of the world’s fastest mobile services. This technology uses the 700 MHz spectrum which travels further and gets deeper into buildings, delivering higher typical mobile speeds on compatible devices. This allows more Australians, including in remote areas, to experience reliable connections and ultra-fast mobile internet.

Telstra and our technology partners are also preparing the network for the future. In just 5 years total network traffic will grow over 500% driven by video, connected machine and even drone technologies that will put as yet unheard off demands on the network. And we know around 80% of the network capacity that

will be required to support this increase in traffic is yet to be built.

The opportunities that many new technologies will bring hinge on access to a fast, reliable and affordable mobile network. We are investing to deliver the increased capacity required and unlock the benefits new technologies will bring.

Telstra recently announced a commitment to continuing our work to improve regional mobile coverage. Over the next five years Telstra will invest $350 million in new technology and regional base stations, up to $240 million to continue our work on the first two rounds of the successful Mobile Black Spot Programme, and a further $100-$200 million set aside for new regional co-investments. With the co-investments, this could represent a $1 billion boost to regional, rural and remote mobile coverage.

A network that makes the future possible

55,000

50,000

45,000

40,000

35,000

30,000

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

0

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Encrypted Social networkingSoftware download and update Web Browsing Video Audio

Pet

aByt

es p

er m

onth

Telstra’s mobile network is a world-leader, developed through years of research and investment. Covering over 2.4 million square kilometres, the network is able to reach 99.3% of the population.


Opportunities Innovation and advances in technology are not just things that are happening ‘to’ regional Australia and great ideas aren’t limited to big cities.

The increasing availability of high-speed internet access through fixed broadband, mobile and satellite technologies is building a bridge that regional communities can use to access knowledge, markets and services that may have previously been out of reach.

Even more importantly, greater connectivity enables greater innovation. Fostering this innovation is key for the future generations who will live and work in regional Australia.

Governments and employers need to find new ways to motivate people to move to and stay in regional areas, and support the roll out of new and innovative technologies to make sure communities can make the most of the future.

New marketsThe economic benefits and opportunities that come from greater connectivity arrive at a time when Australian exporters are poised to benefit from growing demand and new free trade agreements.

Australia has increasingly deep and broad connections to markets not limited to agriculture: they bring opportunities for the resource and service industries to operate on a global scale, for tourism to reach more potential visitors, and for educational institutions to connect with

students from around the world who would like to study in Australia.

Advanced technologies like precision agriculture are already offering improvements to efficiency and profitability in many areas. 3D printing will shorten supply chains by allowing a huge range of items to be manufactured on-site whenever they are needed - allowing for rapid prototyping and development and slashing the costs of replacing parts and equipment.

Access to servicesAustralia’s regional communities tend to have an older population than metropolitan areas and the trend of young people moving out of regional communities will require governments and employers to find new ways to

What does the future hold for regional communities?


motivate people to move to and stay in regional areas.

Encouraging migration to regional areas can help rebalance demographics. According to the Regional Australia Institute, if managed carefully “international migration is increasingly fundamental to regional development in Australia. International migration has the ability to ‘offset’ population decline in some regional areas.” 1

Health and Education are two services where regional communities will benefit. Technology such as telemedicine can improve access to healthcare and deliver greater equality in services, provided there is sufficient connectivity available.

Opportunities for both students and teachers to change how and where education is delivered are already

being embraced. These advances will continue to bring regional communities better access to resources, wider choice of educational opportunities and more reliable connections to friends, communities of interest and potential employers.

Weather and disaster management Better coordination of emergency services and relief efforts, remote monitoring of disasters zones and fire fronts, and an enhanced ability to predict weather patterns are all examples of improvements in technology that may help

communities deal with these changing conditions.

Changes in the environment will continue to spur adaptation in agriculture. Water scarcity will drive the need for a huge improvement in water management and efficiency, for example through the utilisation of less water-intensive crops and the adoption of greater ‘on-farm’ technology to make the best possible use of this scarce resource.

With a robust communications infrastructure in place and an increasing number of connected devices, a growing use of decentralised and renewable energy may also lead to new opportunities for communities to control their own energy generation, storage and distribution.

Creating new ways to connect regional towns and communities

Local councils and governments are turning to technology to find smarter ways of managing public spaces by disrupting tradition. IoT powered public spaces like parks and city centres will not only create brilliant amenities for citizens – they’ll also create new cost reductions, workplace efficiencies and smarter ways for local governments. Telstra’s IoT Platform can manage bins in real-time, which means councils will only need to deploy services when they’re needed. Sensors and the IoT Platform can be used to provide real-time data to aid how a council uses everything from street lighting to smart parking to asset management.


What role will technology play in the future of regional Australia?Regional communities are already huge users of technology in a range of fields. Over the next 20 years, continued innovation and investment in technology can deliver some exciting opportunities in areas like agriculture, education, health and transport.

Today’s technologies can be used to show the potential of 5G. Ericsson is currently trialling a 5G system combining new and existing technologies to remotely control Volvo trucks used for transporting ore in a mine operated by Boliden.2

Ericsson has also worked with Volvo to demonstrate the operation of a remotely located digger over the 4G network by using Virtual Reality and haptic feedback (to simulate the physical experience). With 5G, this will be further enhanced by providing higher capacity and lower latency to support multiple remote controlled machines along with higher resolution video. In addition to this, 5G will offer increased reliability to ensure maximised production.

Near-term developments

We are already working on new technologies to improve lives. These are some of the developments we expect to see over the next 2 to 5 years.

Faster networks

With partners like Ericsson, Telstra is already working on the fifth generation of mobile networks and connectivity, known as 5G. This technology could offer download speeds of greater than 20Gbps - the equivalent of downloading around 4,000 different HD movies all at the same time.

As high-speed fixed and wireless broadband services continue to evolve, the ability to combine mobility with ‘smart’ networks and cloud computing will enhance existing regional connectivity. This means a whole new range of applications that were previously either too expensive or technically complex will become a reality.

5G will power more than just high-speed smartphones. New capabilities include

greater capacity for more devices on the network, and lower energy requirements that will enable battery life significantly longer than what we see today – both critical for the growth of the Internet of Things.

Telstra is adding new capability to 4G, such as Narrow Band IoT (NB-IoT) to support these features, and 5G is being designed from the outset to incorporate these types of applications.

Industries in Australia that will benefit from the additional capabilities of 5G include transport, emergency services, and process industries such as mining, agriculture, and land and water management.


High-tech Agriculture

IoT in agriculture

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to objects (everything from cars, houses and public infrastructure) which are connected to one another through a network. The number of objects being connected is expected to reach a staggering 21 billion devices by 2020.3 IoT is already having an impact on regional Australia with the 4G network, and this will be bolstered by the introduction of 5G.

The data collected through IoT will help farmers make smart decisions and reduce or eliminate circumstances which can adversely impact profits and livelihoods. Integrating sensors with rapidly evolving abilities to analyse data will create a technical revolution that will change the way farms are managed.

For example, sensors attached to water tanks allow a real time view of water levels. When connected to on-farm networks this technology can proactively alert farmers of threshold events such as water levels dropping below 20%, or a tank level dropping more than 10%. So when livestock on a remote part of a property damage a water line causing leakage, a farmer will know before the situation is too late to fix.

Sensors embedded in soil can track moisture and soil health, making it easier for farmers to efficiently distribute water and fertilisers. This data can be integrated with farm scheduling activities, increasing quality and yield and allowing timely procurement of consumables and labour.

Just like Smart Pills that are being developed for people, ingestible sensors designed to monitor livestock health are advancing at great pace. By bringing these sensors into the Internet of Things, rumination across an entire herd of cattle, health of prized breeding stock and fertility across a range of breeds can be monitored and tracked in real time.

Farms blanketed with sensors that are connected via IoT are able to monitor and track machinery, allowing for proactive maintenance scheduling. Machinery will increasingly accommodate autonomous guidance for precision planting and other cropping activities, with performance data being aggregated at the homestead or office via a farm-wide dashboard that provides an integrated view of not only livestock and crop health but business health and profitability as well.

Drones in the agriculture and resources sectors

The use of drones in agriculture and resources, when coupled with remote sensing technologies, offers an enhanced and more flexible capability over ground-based monitoring.

Telstra is already partnering with Boeing and the Queensland Government to take part in a major research project aimed to enable the safe and reliable operation of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) technologies – also known as drones - by commercial and civil industries across Queensland.

Drones will be able to deliver a greater degree of accuracy when making decisions on issues in relation to cropping and water management or for carrying out tasks like quantity surveying.

Management of water and nitrogen is currently based on labour-intensive, ground-based survey and observation. However these data collection methods do not lend themselves to holistic measurement. With the advancement of hand-held and drone-based hyperspectral sensors a much more detailed and complete data set can be established across a wider area. Collecting accurate data across a whole paddock or farm in an instant is becoming possible. Efficiently collecting data is not the only benefit - advances in analytics platforms will unleash the decision making potential this level of data collection presents. When

data regarding either soil or nitrogen deficiency is shared with vehicle-based GIS systems, the application of whatever is required to mitigate the deficiency can be managed with far more efficiency than a whole-of-paddock application. This both reduces the cost of crop inputs and improves yield and quality, while reducing the environmental impact through the reduced used of inputs.

Gains in productivity using drones can also be realised when repetitive tasks are automated. Checking water points on large properties can be completed using pre-programmed flight paths. Livestock mustering is a case where safety can be improved and costs reduced when drones are used instead of helicopters.

New ways to benefit farmers: better crop quality and yields increasing productivity

Telstra is working with an Australian-based specialist in crop protection and seed technologies and is collaborating with an internationally-based firm to introduce their plant monitoring and agriculture analytics system to Australia. This system provides near real-time monitoring via in-field devices connected to Telstra’s mobile network on a range of parameters that allow growers to optimise inputs and make better informed decisions that improve both the quality and yield of their crops.


Healthier Communities

Remote health monitoring

A reality of living in regional Australia is that help is sometimes far away – a growing concern as regional populations age. Remote health monitoring can provide a safe option that will allow people to live independently in their own homes longer.

Video conferencing means community nurses can easily and efficiently supervise patients taking medication and answer any questions, with medication confusion a leading cause of hospital readmission.4

Medical-grade wearables will monitor vital signs such as pulse, blood pressure, blood glucose or oxygen saturation and alert a family member or carer if they fall outside a safe range, allowing for early medical intervention and reducing hospital admissions.

Sensor technology will also evolve to automatically call for help in the case of a fall in the home. This means people in regional Australia will be able to live where they want for longer, yet still have access to the care they need, when they need it.

Apps for mental health and chronic illness

Apps will deliver better levels of care for people living with chronic disease or poor mental health. Instead of having to wait to see a doctor, apps (combined with the use of wearable and other technology) will allow for real-time tracking of data such as mood for those with depression

or blood glucose, nutrition and exercise for those with diabetes. Technology will not only store this data, but analyse and recommend suggested behavioural changes or actions in order to help people better manage their conditions, irrespective of location or immediate accessibility of health providers.

To enable these solutions, reliable, available high-speed connectivity must be the backbone that supports the proliferation of smartphones and wearables with a variety of high-quality sensors.

Smart homes

Today the average Australian household has nine connected devices. By 2020 this number is expected to increase to 29 per household.5

The Smart Home concept, whether you live in a city or in a regional area, is more than just a number of connected devices in the home, it’s about how they connect and talk to each other and use data to automate and enhance different aspects of our lives.

Smart homes offer huge potential for people who want to remain in their own homes as they age. Smart home technology will be particularly vital to maintain the independence of those without easy access to local healthcare, which is particularly important for regional Australia. Current areas of research are focused on preventing harm and ensuring comfort such as ergonomic bathrooms with the ability to auto-detect medical issues using smart ‘slip and fall’

sensors. Smart homes will include remote diagnostic technology and bio-sensors to detect poor health and the onset of diseases.

Smart homes will improve physical security by creating interactive systems that incorporate motion and window sensors, thermostats, lights, and door lock controls. Smart homes will also offer better experiences for people living with a disability. For example, innovations being developed by the Summer Foundation who are designing a call system, environmental controls and communications devices integrated into one system. These advances will allow people living in their own homes to control their environments and communicate with others at the touch of a button.

These smart home advancements are critically important as the aged and disability care sectors already face challenges attracting sufficient staff. As stated in the ‘The crisis in the caring workforce’,6 the Department of Health and Ageing estimated that the aged care workforce would need to increase between two and three times before 2050. At the same time the aged care workforce itself will age and the overall labour market will be more competitive. As such, regional areas are likely to be the places where technology innovation will be of highest impact.

Smart home technology for regional areas is dependent on reliable, connected, and highly-secure solutions that protect the data that will be collected.


Medium-term developments

We are planning for the future. Here are technologies that we are working on with partners. These technologies will benefit regional communities in the next 5 to 10 years.

Drones for deliveries

Regional communities are uniquely positioned to benefit from drones – both airborne and ground-based. Drones will allow deliveries of small machine parts, medicines, packages and other goods far faster, further and at a lower cost than is possible with manned vehicles today.

The impact is set to be particularly significant in areas that may be frequently isolated for extended periods of time due to weather events.

Combined with other emerging technologies such as 3D-printing (when machine parts can be produced easily and inexpensively) entire logistics chains can be revolutionised. It will be possible, for example, to get a replacement part for broken agricultural machinery in the space of hours, as opposed to having to possibly wait for an interstate or overseas delivery for weeks or months.

IoT-connected machinery and smart homes will be able to collect data and anticipate faults themselves, ordering parts that need replacement before they break down and arranging the delivery of the replacement part via drone to occur at the best possible time for the customer.

Haptically-Enabled Robotics (HER)

HER will use advanced haptic (force feedback) and stereovision capability for remote medical procedures, letting healthcare professionals deliver diagnosis and treatment over vast distances. This will allow for the early detection of issues and improved patient care in regional Australia.

With HER technology a sonographer or doctor can control a robotic ‘arm’ while their movements are sent in real time to the other half of the robot which is being operated at the patient end. The system can translate a sense of touch to the doctor as if they were in the same room as the patient.

Currently people who live in remote areas experience a delay between having an ultrasound and receiving the results, which happens once their scans have been sent to a physician and reviewed, a process that can take weeks.

In the future, a number of remote communities could be supplied with an ultrasound ‘robot’ for medical diagnosis requirements. When needed, a skilled sonographer or doctor could log onto the system and perform the diagnosis with

haptic, stereovision and full two-way audio visual communications.

The addition of stereovision can improve operator situational awareness by giving depth perception, which also contributes to the accuracy and efficiency of manipulation tasks.

The haptics robotics technology (once in market) means that people who live in regional Australian communities would have increased access to sonography services – which are used in the detection and treatment of heart disease, heart attack and vascular disease that can lead to stroke. Sonography is also used to guide fine needle tissue biopsies for taking cell samples from an organ for lab testing (such as testing for cancer).

The real-time nature of this technology means that this delay is eliminated, as results are delivered almost immediately. This will also reduce the need for patients to be rescanned, which can be required if the physician has follow up questions upon receiving the initial scans.

Telstra and Deakin University haptics robotics demonstration

The system has been successfully demonstrated using data links to represent network latency existing between Melbourne and several regional and rural cities within Australia.

Early-stage testing has extended the trial beyond initial expectations by proving the technology on Telstra’s 4G wireless network, making the system truly portable and expandable to cover over 97% of Australia’s population.


Education delivery

Education as we know it today will be different in 5-10 years’ time. The old models of established brick and mortar buildings to which students and educators travel is being disrupted. Since today’s technologies (smartphones, video conferencing, online exam verification and identification, remote lectures, virtual reality devices) mean that learners can access high-quality experiences when they choose and get a credential for it, alternatives to the existing approach are already emerging.

In 5-10 years’ time schools will function more as a hub for occasional visits rather than a centre that we rely on to provide a child’s full learning experience. Technology-fuelled environments will allow children to learn in new ways, working with physical elements as well as highly interactive digital and virtual components sourced from across the globe, the ocean’s depths and outer space.

Technology will give learners increasing decision making power over their own education. They will be able to receive education and information from a growing number of ‘educators’ (including parents) when and where they need it.

For students and educators in regional Australia, these changes will bring improved access to curriculum content, collaboration with experts located anywhere in the world and a real-time view of their progress throughout the week, semester or year.

Wearable technologies will allow students and teachers to more easily access information without any obstructions, search, take a picture, record video, and answer and translate questions in a foreign language. Apps will have the capacity to track a student’s brain activity to detect the times when a student is best placed for learning. Data from a students’ own brain, heart or nervous system could also indicate what activities might be needed to maintain focus and energy. Cameras can capture a student or educator’s point of view of events and share it with the world.

Augmented Reality (AR) - a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user’s view of the real world - will allow educators and students to create layers of digital information on top of the physical world that can be viewed through a device. Active learning experiences can be created that facilitate deep understanding through focused interaction, thinking and reflection. Using an app called Aurasma, students and educators can already create their own personalised interactions. For example, students record themselves giving a brief review of a novel that they just finished, and then attach that “aura” (assigned digital information) to a book. Afterward, anyone can scan the cover of the book and instantly access the review. This kind of technology will be able to stimulate excitement and curiosity in ways that a text book can’t. It has great potential to reignite a generation of learners’ passion for the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects.

Machine learning has significant potential for education. In the traditional ratio of 30 students to one teacher it is very difficult to truly personalise learning experiences. Fundamentally, machine learning allows for unpacking of data to personalise a student’s education. For example, analytics tools will track student performance, grading systems will assess and score student responses to assessments and computer assignments at large scale, and dynamic scheduling will match students that need help with teachers that have time are already available. As students increasingly grow accustomed to personalised experiences in their social world, they will bring this demand to learning as well.

The new network

Having reliable access to the Internet is a fundamental requirement for many emerging technologies. Traditionally, this has been provided – and continues to be provided – by the means of cellular (wireless) networks and fixed networks, with infrequent and expensive satellite connections sometimes used as last resort. Several alternative access technologies are being developed to

help improve coverage and connectivity, particularly in remote areas.

Low-power Wide-area Network (LPWANs), which often operate on unlicensed frequencies, can cover large geographical areas with fewer base stations than cellular networks.

However given Telstra’s extensive mobile coverage already, we are using advances in 4G technology to provide this type of functionality now (i.e. Narrow Band – IoT) using existing cellular technology. This is expected to be further supported by 5G in time. This technology roadmap is supported by standards developed by the entire global mobile industry (3GPP) and so will ensure continued support of IoT devices into the future at the quality levels demanded by these applications.

Other novel networks are being envisaged with the help of drones. These drone-based networks can be either transient in nature (e.g. when additional capacity or coverage is temporarily required) or more permanent. Google’s Skybender project aims to use high-flying drones to provide 5G connectivity as does internet.org’s Aquila unmanned aircraft. Google’s Project Loon aims to provide connectivity via high-flying balloons – just one example of a High Altitude Platform (HAP). HAPs are vehicles typically situated at altitudes between 17km and 22km and have the potential capability to serve a large number of users either in urban areas or a wide geographical regional area.

There is also research and design underway for the construction of large constellations of low-cost micro-satellites which could provide connectivity to a wide area.

It is likely that a combination of access technologies will be deployed to cater for the regional needs. With fixed and mobile networks providing the ‘core’ connectivity, alternative technologies can fill in gaps in extremely remote areas or provide booster capacity on an as-needed basis, for example during disaster relief operations.


Decentralised energy networks

There will not be a single technology that forms the future of energy for regional Australia, as industry transformation will require a suite of connectivity, mediation and applications. IoT systems, the analysis of huge volumes of data and high-speed connectivity to the multitude of energy generation and storage sources will help transform the way energy is generated, distributed, stored and used.

The ongoing development of solar energy as a highly-efficient and cheap source of energy will have a lasting impact on regional Australia, as will other small-scale renewable energy options. While Australia already has a high penetration of rooftop solar, it will increasingly be used to power very remote infrastructure.

Combined with energy storage, renewable energy offers the potential to take entire communities off the grid (or greatly reduce their grid demand). Storage technologies will enable distributed renewable generation to make up a larger percentage of the total electricity supply.

Consumers will increasingly become active market participants. They will be micro-generators of renewable energy as well as traders who can sell stored energy when demand rises. The growth of smart homes will also allow for more dynamic monitoring and adjustment of energy use.

In response electricity grid operations will evolve from static to highly dynamic. Automated operations-based field sensors and actuators, operational data analysis and improved connectivity will mean an entire energy network no longer needs to be controlled from one central point. This will enable a ‘smart grid’ – characterised by network automation, dynamic allocation of energy to areas it is needed and self-healing equipment that is capable of preventing loss of service to customers. What all “smart” grid technologies rely on – from household-scale to industrial – is reliable connectivity for control.

Personalised transport

We may witness a radical change away from the personally-owned, internal combustion engine-powered, human-driven motor vehicle.

As smartphones become ubiquitous, this will enable convenient sharing of vehicles, thereby potentially reducing the number of vehicles on the road by a factor of 10. The technologies to enable autonomous operation of vehicles are progressing rapidly (thanks to machine learning and IoT) and will become commonplace in the next decade.

By 2022, thanks to enormous investment in battery technology, it is anticipated that the cost of electric vehicles will fall below that of internal combustion engine vehicles.7 These changes will enable convenient and cheap personalised transport across both urban and regional environments. They may also be better for the environment, safer, and release capital that is currently tied up in vehicle ownership to be deployed elsewhere. These efficiency gains could have a positive impact on regional communities, from both a social and economic perspective.

In parallel, the development of drone technology is proceeding rapidly. The improvements in electric drivetrains and autonomous systems mean drones will be capable of carrying people within the next decade. A first person-carrying drone, the eHang 184, was tested in Nevada in 2016. It is capable of carrying a single passenger at a speed of 100kph for 23 minutes. While there are corresponding regulatory issues to be resolved, this is a key advancement, which brings the reality of flying cars, and their benefits for a regional environment, that much closer.


Long-term developments

Here is what the future might look like in 10-20 years. These are technologies in the early stages of thinking and development, but we need to lay the ground work now if we want to benefit from them in the future.

Quantum computing

Quantum computers have the potential to solve problems in minutes that would take conventional computers centuries. This power will have a transformational impact on Australian and global businesses, from banks undertaking financial analysis and transport companies planning optimal logistic routes, to improvements in medical drug design.

The advantage of a quantum computer is that information can be stored in a large number of different states at the same time. Classical computers store information as bits that represent either a ‘1’ or a ‘0’, but relying on the effects of quantum physics, the qubits (quantum bits) in a quantum computer could be ‘1’ or ‘0’, or ‘1’ and ‘0’ at the same time.

Quantum is expected to open many new opportunities for the entire Australian workforce. Some practical applications

that could affect regional Australia include:

• Optimisation programs that create far more efficient inventory planning and improved distribution systems including speed fleet routing. The efficiencies gained through better delivery options will be particularly beneficial to businesses working with perishable goods.

• Machine learning that can deliver the ability to more accurately forecast long term weather patterns as well as analyse weather events as they develop, through the use of high-speed probability simulations.

• The ability to model proteins which will lead to superior pharmaceuticals (for the protection of humans and animals) and better crop management.

The potential that quantum computing will be available via cloud networks and other forms of broadband infrastructure invites the possibility that clusters of programmers and users in all parts of Australia will be able to access this technology.

The opportunity for regional communities to focus on creating applications that are critically relevant to their geographic interest will inspire new and unforeseen applications that will provide benefits to people everywhere. The combination of a local talent base, improved logistics and more efficient distribution and access to quantum computing algorithms are likely to lead to greater opportunities for regional students and workers to participate in this development.

Telstra and UNSW - working to build a quantum computerIn December 2015 Telstra announced its plan to invest $10 million and in-kind support over the next five years to help the development of silicon quantum computing technology in Australia with the Australian Research Council Centre for Quantum Computation and Communications Technology (CQC2T), headquartered at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

In April 2016, the Centre’s new laboratories were officially opened by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and then Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Christopher Pyne. At the event the Prime Minister hailed UNSW’s research in quantum computing as the “best work in the world”.

The laboratories will double the productive capacity of the UNSW headquarters of the CQC2T. They will also be used to advance development work to commercialise UNSW’s ground-breaking quantum computing research and establish Australia as an international leader in the industries of the future. The work has attracted major investment from the Australian Government, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Telstra.


Gene editing

The future of agriculture is facing a number of challenges – from pressures to increase yields in the face of growing populations to stresses caused by climate change, land degradation and lack of water. To meet the high expectations, agriculture needs to adopt technologies of various kinds, including genetically modified crops.

Genetic modification of crops and animals has been in existence virtually since the beginning of agriculture. Farmers have practised selective breeding to produce crops and animals with traits that are desirable, such as resistance to drought, resistance to disease and pests or increased yields. Selective breeding requires a number of generations of the crop or animal to produce the desired traits.

In the future genetically-modified crops can produce much more impressive benefits – the C4 Rice Project, for example, aims to develop a rice variety that uses the so-called C4 form of

photosynthesis; as it is more efficient it would yield as much as 50% more than the current varieties.

Gene editing also allows further development of crop varieties that are resistant to more herbicides and have other useful properties such as improved nutritional contents and disease resistance. Ambitious projects also aim at producing crops such as nitrogen-fixing wheat, which would dramatically reduce the need for fertilisers.

For Australia in particular, drought-tolerant varieties of various crops can help maintain yields even in the face of challenging environmental conditions. Developing more heat-tolerant varieties would also be of large benefit for Australia, where heat waves already impact negatively on quality and yields.

Genetic technologies - how it worksModern genetic technologies allow the identification of specific genes that are responsible for the desired traits of a plant or animal. By comparing the alleles (different forms of the same gene) of these plants or animals with the desired traits with current crop or herd it is possible to identify specific genes that could be modified to produce a new generation with the desired traits.

A recently discovered technique, known as CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), makes such genetic modification possible. CRISPR allows gene modification with relatively simple and inexpensive laboratory equipment.

CRISPR has already been tested and shown to produce desirable outcomes. For example, African Swine Fever will kill domestic pigs but warthogs are resistant to the disease. Using CRISPR scientist were able to identify the genes that give warthogs their resistance and transfer their alleles to domestic pigs thereby giving the latter immunity to the disease in a single generation.


Enabling a brilliantly connected future

Achieving a brilliantly connected future where regional communities can fully benefit from advancing technologies will require a range of support from governments and policy makers. Great opportunities are within reach, but the right approach to policy and regulation will be an essential element of success.

What are the priorities for policy makers?Governments at all levels need to continue to support innovation in the economy and look in detail at how this can apply to regional areas.

For innovation to take its place as a driver of Australia’s prosperity, the contribution regional communities can play must be recognised. The start-up culture that has helped created many of today’s largest and most successful global corporations cannot continue to be isolated to inner-city enclaves.

Australia needs to prepare for a technology-led future by prioritising STEM education, available no matter where you are, as well as supporting careers in science and engineering.

The Gillard Government’s National Plan for School Improvement and the Turnbull Government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda brought much-needed focus to discussions about securing Australia’s future prosperity through a better educated, more agile and globally-competitive workforce. Embedding these reforms must remain a priority over the long term.

Alongside formal education, initiatives such as Code Club Australia (which aims to give every child in Australia the chance to learn how to write code) are an important part of fostering the minds of the future.

We must address the barriers that keep women out of careers in science and technology. Currently women comprise 46% of Australian students working towards a PhD in STEMM, but hold just 21% of senior academics positions.8 Initiatives like Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE), which aim to improve the gender equity and diversity of careers in science, require continued support.

What role should regulation play in the communications networks of the future?Competitive, dynamic markets with best-practice regulation – such as Australia currently has for mobile phone networks – are best able to deliver the kind of investment, research and development needed to make a brilliantly-connected future possible. The current mobile phone network regulation model, in which market competition delivers continuous improvements for customers, should be followed as new technologies and services start to become available to regional, rural and remote communities.

Telstra has a long history of world-leading innovation in regional mobile telecommunications. We want to continue to connect people to a brilliant future, and we are actively investing to do just that.

Recent claims that regulatory intervention in the mobile market would benefit consumers have been shown to be false. An open and competitive market has led Australia to being ranked 1st in the world for mobile connectivity. 9 Australia has

some of the best mobile service coverage and technology in the world despite our great landmass and dispersed population, plus falling prices for mobile plans and constantly increasing data allowances.10

Current regulatory settings ensure that mobile operators can and do compete vigorously to drive mobile infrastructure and technology further into remote Australia. Regulation already ensures competitors can access each other’s mobile towers and the transmission lines that carry data and calls from remote towers back into the mobile operators’ core networks. Mobile spectrum is sold by auction in an open market with limits on the amount any one operator can acquire. The playing field is level for all competitors and the competition is consequently fierce.

Many Australians value having the best possible national mobile coverage regardless of where they live and work, and are willing to pay a premium for it. Network operators compete on coverage to attract this cohort of customers, which in turn drives a strong investment focus on extending networks further into remote areas. Where a carrier has the best coverage in an area it will focus on extending that coverage to stay ahead of its competitors, while its competitors will invest in their own coverage to reduce the leader’s better coverage claim. This virtuous circle is the product of light-touch regulation and the power of the market to deliver what customers want and need.


Telstra, Ericsson and UNSW share a long-term interest in seeing technology developed and delivered to regional communities. We will continue to look for ways to support this and we welcome the collaboration of other partners who can help us create a brilliantly-connected future.

Governments have also helped support additional mobile coverage, not through more regulation but by harnessing the power of the competitive market to amplify the value of public investments in remote Australian mobile networks. For example, the Australian Government’s Mobile Black Spot Programme is

successfully encouraging co-investment. The first two rounds of the programme have already attracted almost $600 million in industry and government funding. This will deliver:

• 765 new and upgrade mobile base stations

• 86,300 square kilometres of new and upgraded handheld coverage

• 202,300 square kilometres of new external antenna coverage

• over 7,600 kilometres new coverage to major transport routes.11

Australian mobile infrastructure

Spectrum

Regulated

Radio spectrum is used to send and receive data from your mobile phone. Access to spectrum is bought from the government in open auctions, with limits on how much any single company can control.

Tower

Regulated

The Telecommunications Act already allows one company to apply to install their equipment on another company’s tower.

Equipment

Un-regulated

Radio equipment connects your mobile to the rest of the network. Each mobile company is responsible for investing in its own radio equipment and can put their equipment on another company’s tower.

Backhaul

Regulated

Fibre and copper cables are used to send data between a mobile tower and the rest of the network. These connections are known as backhaul. The ACCC already sets prices that companies can charge one another for the use of some backhaul.


References

1. POPULATION DYNAMICS IN REGIONAL AUSTRALIA, REGIONAL AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE, 2015. HTTP://WWW.REGIONALAUSTRALIA.ORG.AU/WP-CONTENT/UPLOADS/2015/01/FINAL-POPULATION-DYNAMICS-IN-REGIONAL-AUSTRALIA.PDF, PAGE 9

2. 5G PILOT LAUNCHED TO MAKE SWEDISH MINES SAFER AND MORE PRODUCTIVE, ERICSSON, MAY 2015 HTTPS://WWW.ERICSSON.COM/NEWS/1924016

3. GARTNER SAYS 6.4 BILLION CONNECTED “THINGS” WILL BE IN USE IN 2016, UP 30 PERCENT FROM 2015, GARTNER, NOVEMBER 2015, HTTP://WWW.GARTNER.COM/NEWSROOM/ID/3165317

4. PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA HTTPS://WWW.PSA.ORG.AU/DOWNLOAD/AP/PRESIDENT/APFEB12-PRESIDENT-SAYS.PDF

5. WELCOME TO YOUR SMART HOME, TELSTRA, JUNE 2016, HTTPS://EXCHANGE.TELSTRA.COM.AU/2016/06/22/WELCOME-TO-YOUR-SMART-HOME/

6. THE CRISIS IN THE CARING WORKFORCE, MARILYN HARRINGTON AND DR RHONDA JOLLY, SOCIAL POLICY, AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENT, 2015 HTTP://WWW.APH.GOV.AU/ABOUT_PARLIAMENT/PARLIAMENTARY_DEPARTMENTS/PARLIAMENTARY_LIBRARY/PUBS/BRIEFINGBOOK44P/CARINGWORKFORCE

7. ELECTRIC VEHICLES TO BE 35% OF GLOBAL NEW CAR SALES BY 2040, BLOOMBERG NEW ENERGY FINANCE, FEBRUARY 2016. HTTPS://ABOUT.BNEF.COM/BLOG/ELECTRIC-VEHICLES-TO-BE-35-OF-GLOBAL-NEW-CAR-SALES-BY-2040/

8. GENDER EQUITY IN STEMM, SCIENCE IN AUSTRALIA GENDER EQUALITY, AUGUST 2016, HTTPS://WWW.SCIENCEGENDEREQUITY.ORG.AU/GENDER-EQUITY-IN-STEM/

9. GSMA MOBILE CONNECTIVITY INDEX HTTP://WWW.MOBILECONNECTIVITYINDEX.COM/

10. PRICE CHANGES FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES IN AUSTRALIA, ACCC, FEBRUARY 2016, P. 87, HTTPS://WWW.ACCC.GOV.AU/PUBLICATIONS/ACCC-TELECOMMUNICATIONS-REPORT/ACCC-TELECOMMUNICATIONS-REPORT-2014-15

11. MOBILE SERVICES AND COVERAGE, DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, HTTPS://WWW.COMMUNICATIONS.GOV.AU/WHAT-WE-DO/PHONE/MOBILE-SERVICES-AND-COVERAGE/


regional australia s technology future - telstra exchange...regional australia’s technology future...

Documents