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General News

17 July, 2024

Businesses miss out on tourism boom as Telstra crashes ... again

Boulia businesses couldn't use EFTPOS, while ATMs were also crippled by network congestion.

By Troy Rowling

Australian Hotel owner Max Smith said the inability to process EFTPOS and ATM transactions caused significant financial losses during Boulia’s biggest tourist event of the year.
Australian Hotel owner Max Smith said the inability to process EFTPOS and ATM transactions caused significant financial losses during Boulia’s biggest tourist event of the year.

Cash was still king in Boulia on the weekend – although that was hardly a choice for local businesses and the thousands of tourists who had descended on the Outback community.

In what is supposed to be a boom period for the tiny town’s economy, many couldn’t buy a beer from the pub without handing over a note.

Luckily, many tourists heeded the call and brought enough cash to last the weekend.

Some even admitted that carrying bank notes was a small protest against the “cashless society” concept.

But Boulia business owners were still left frustrated at losing out on vital tourist dollars due to repeated telecommunication failures.

The race club relied on the Starlink satellite service, which also struggled to keep up with demand – most caravans now have a Starlink dish, which also puts a strain on the network.

Meanwhile, businesses in town were reliant on Telstra for their financial transactions.

The sudden collapse of electronic money systems in Boulia that coincided with the tourist influx left some business owners to again ponder how seriously Telstra takes its role in servicing their community.

Hotelier Max Smith said customers were unable to process transactions on both EFTPOS and ATM services at the Australian Hotel from about 2pm on Friday afternoon.

Mr Smith said the signal on the machines did not return until late on Sunday afternoon – at about the same time the first tourists began exiting Boulia.

Hotel staff were forced to put up signs explaining that his business would only be able to accept cash payments.

And while Mr Smith admitted he could not be certain exactly how much potential revenue he lost due to the malfunctions, he said there would be a financial toll that would hurt his bottom line during what should be his busiest tourist intake of the year.

“If you come in here and look around there’s not as many people as there should be,” he told North West Weekly.

“Most years we have patchy reception during the camel races but this year it just collapsed completely – its the worst it has ever been.

“Who can you call? Telstra don’t listen to anyone. This should be a big weekend but we can’t serve anyone who doesn’t have cash.”

Further down the street, Min Min Store owner Bob Spilsbury said his EFPTOS system had repeatedly stalled over the race weekend, which had forced some tourists to leave the store empty handed.

He said it was just another example of big businesses overlooking the needs of the remote parts of the country.

It was also due to a similar lack of service from the financial corporations that he removed ATMs entirely from his iconic store many years ago.

A Telstra spokesperson said while there are ongoing attempts to enhance coverage and capacity, there are peaks and troughs in demand that needed to be planned for.

“One-off annual events like the Boulia Camel Races can put extra demand on our local network and can slow data speeds and sometimes cause delays with connecting calls,” the spokesperson said.

“We design and manage our mobile network to provide the best connectivity available.”

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