The ACS said in a submission to the Department of Communications, IT and the Arts’ (DCITA) review of the USO that expanding the requirements to include broadband would help reverse the “digital divide”.

The USO is a set of requirements imposed on telecommunications carriers to ensure anyone who wants a phone service has access to it, regardless of where they live. It also covers services like ensure adequate numbers of payphones and emergency numbers like 000.

The ACS said the USO review should consider the way mobile communications is developing as a universal information platform with significant potential for remote internet access.

Regardless of which party wins the upcoming federal election, Australia needed a USO that encompassed broadband and mobile technologies, according to ACS Telecommunications Board director, Professor Reg Coutts.

“Australia faces a growing digital divide, which is being exacerbated by the huge disparity between the quality of telecommunications services provided in our cities and those available in rural and remote parts of the country,” Prof Coutts said.

“The USO was written at a time when a standard fixed line service was all anyone needed, but times have changed.”

Prof Coutts said the long debate over Telstra’s privatisation had delayed “any meaningful action” on broadband for several years, and that the issue needed to be addressed in the next six to 12 months for Australia to maintain global competitiveness.