Businesses are concerned the South West’s telecommunications infrastructure is not keeping pace with population growth.
The South West gets busy during peak periods, with accommodation booked out months in advance, cafes full and beach-parking overflows common.
Coastal towns’ populations swell during school holidays, while major events on the calendar draw thousands of national and international visitors.
Busselton’s iconic Ironman Western Australia can bring crowds upwards of 8,000 people to the town and surrounds in a single weekend, delivering more than $9 million in economic impact.
For many businesses, however, those peak periods also expose a persistent weakness: phone and internet networks that struggle when demand is highest.
For other businesses, their struggle with digital connectivity is a year-round issue.
Connection call
A pharmacy in the Vasse Village shopping precinct west of Busselton has been struggling with internet connection since it opened about eight years ago.
The issue has become more prevalent amid the increasing adoption of electronic prescriptions, according to Vasse Pharmacy owner and pharmacist Nadine Botha.
Ms Botha told Business News mobile phone reception inside the pharmacy (and elsewhere in the building) was unreliable.
“Customers know they have to open these scripts outside on the street [where there is a signal] before they enter; it’s really bad,” she said.
“We pay our Telstra fees and we expect to have proper service for that.”
And Vasse Pharmacy is not the only business to run into challenges with digital captivity.
“All the businesses along here [Vasse Village], and even the doctors next to us say it’s really bad,” Ms Botha said.
“It’s difficult to lodge a complaint and get something done about it.”
Broad impact
The Busselton Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been pushing for better digital connectivity in the South West for years.
“As the region grows, demand is growing, too, especially during holiday seasons and major events,” BCCI chief executive Victoria Sorrell said.
“Across the region there are still areas with patchy mobile coverage and internet services that slow down or drop out under load.”
Ms Sorrell and the chamber are calling for infrastructure investment plans to be made with peak demand figures in mind.
“From a chamber perspective, the issue isn’t that we have no connectivity,” she said.
“It’s that it can be intermittent and networks can struggle when demand spikes, which is exactly when our economy is busiest.”
Businesses have been facing a range of challenges due to connection issues, according to the chamber.
Losing internet signal can mean a loss of potential sales for small businesses.
“We hear from small businesses that Eftpos and mobile payment systems are slow during large events, peak tourism periods and busy weekends,” Ms Sorrell told Business News.
“That means lost sales at the very times businesses should be making their best turnover.
“Market vendors, food trucks, retail and hospitality are especially exposed.”
Regular internet dropouts are also affecting the productivity of the growing number of people choosing to work from home or remotely in the South West.
And for businesses dependent on bookings, online systems and open lines of communication with customers, poor connection can pose a costly operational risk.
Partial progress
Following consistent feedback from members on their challenges with connectivity, the chamber recently released a guide to advise businesses on improving performance and planning for peak demand periods.
Better Connections – A Practical Guide for Businesses & Community combines advice from the federal government’s Regional Tech Hub with input from the local community.
And Ms Sorrell said there had been other efforts to improve digital connectivity in the region.
“There have been upgrades, new towers and regional programs, and support services like the Regional Tech Hub,” she said.
But some businesses, like Ms Botha’s pharmacy, say they haven’t noticed a difference.
Last year, 12 fixed-wireless towers were installed around Harvey and Busselton, co-funded by the state and federal governments.
The towers aimed to deliver improved high-capacity fixed wireless broadband services across 1,100 square kilometres in the Busselton area and 1,200 square kilometres in the Harvey-Brunswick area.
In its announcement on the towers in February 2025, the state government said more than 25,000 premises across 19 postcodes in the Shire of Harvey, Shire of Capel and City of Busselton would have access to digital connectivity.
However, a Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development spokesperson told Business News this year the number of premises was more than 14,640.
The state government continues to work alongside the federal government with a range of programs to improve regional infrastructure, the spokesperson said.
Since 2017, the state government has committed $154 million to complement federal and industry investments.
