Photos:

A working phone
 – a matter of life or death for remote communities

Tuesday 17 May 2005

A young designer from the Centre for Appropriate Technology (CAT) in Alice Springs has developed the “CATphone”, an innovative new phone enclosure that is giving remote communities a reliable working telephone.

“We worked with Telstra on the development of this phone which will be trialling initially in 20 remote communities in the Northern Territory,” said its inventor, Garry McGregor.

“We rely on the phone. Be it landline, mobile, or payphone, we expect there will be a working phone when we need one.

”Many remote Indigenous communities have to share just one or two phones, mounted outside the home for easy access. But the standard domestic phone often can’t cope with the extreme heat and dusty conditions of many remote settlements and so the phones break frequently.

“Repairing phones is expensive in the outback – technicians have to drive hundreds of kilometres to repair one phone.  Meanwhile, community members have to wait for repairs to what is sometimes their only connection to the outside world.”

The ‘CATphone” features a weather resistant steel casing to cope with the extreme conditions of the outback such as dust and heavy rain, and is resistant to breakage.

“The CATphone is easy to repair, reducing the need for service calls,” says Garry.

“The concept wasn’t to make the phone indestructible. The design surrounds and protects a normal low-cost domestic phone,” said Garry. “If it breaks, you just open up the case and pop another one in from a stock that Telstra will leave with the community.”

“The CATphone is good for remote communities and good for Telstra,” says Danny Honan, Telstra Area General Manager for the Northern Territory.

“We expect the additional cost of the CATphone case will be more than offset by the reduced repair costs. Telstra was delighted to be working with the CAT on this innovative project to help provide remote indigenous communities with access to reliable telecommunications.”

Garry’s innovation won him a place at Fresh Innovators—a national initiative to bring the work of 16 early-career inventers to public attention. One of the 16 will win a study tour to the UK courtesy of the British Council Australia.

Last Thursday, the phone design won Garry the Desert Knowledge category in the inaugural Northern Territory Research and Innovation Awards which includes a prize cheque of $6000.

“It’s been exciting to work with Telstra to help solve a major issue for remote Indigenous communities around Central Australia,” Garry said.

Demonstration: The phone is on display at the 32 Priest Street.

For more information or interview contact Garry McGregor t: 08 8951 4312 m: 0427 644 616 e: ict.manager@icat.org.au   

Photos:

A community call: Dorelle Taylor, Jacinta McCormack and Narelle Davis, testing the new Community Access Telephone in Nyewente Alice Springs. This is the first Community Access Telephone installed by Telstra.	Narelle Jones, staff member of CAT, using the Community Phone.