The deadline is 30th June 2024. After this date the 3G cellular network in Australia will no longer work leaving thousands of fleet vehicles stranded with obsolete hardware for their telematics systems.
It’s a dire warning for organisations that rely on constant communication with their fleet vehicles to monitor compliance, driver behaviour and perform critical business tasks. But the crunch is coming because there are limited skilled resources available to replace the old 3G hardware with updated 4G technology.
Michael Emanuel, Managing Director at Netstar Australia, believes the industry will reach a crisis point as the deadline approaches because Fleet Managers will realise their vehicle tracking systems will no longer work.
“There’s not enough skilled resources locally to manage the changeover,” explains Emanuel. “We’re actually bringing a team of installation technicians from South Africa to ensure we have the manpower to help our customer through this transition.”
“They’re Netstar employees so they know our systems and our customers. They’ll be here for several months this year and then come back next year as the deadline gets closer.”
Part of the problem is the procurement policies that require organisations to issue a tender when there’s a significant change or cost. The process to draft the requirements, evaluate responses and plan the implementation can take months.
Many councils and government agencies were the first to implement telematics systems and have never utilised the full capability of the systems. The new 4G systems are more capable and offer more functionality, so refining the requirements in a specification document is a challenge when you’ve only ever looked at a dot on a map.
4G offers faster speeds, less latency and more capacity so Fleet Managers can get real time data, images and video. Information can be provided real time to ensure the safe and efficient operations on the fleet.
An example of the strain on skilled installation technicians is the recent RFQ by SA Water for In-Vehicle Monitoring Systems (IVMS) installation services. SA Water were advised by their current provider that they do not have the installer capacity to replace 400+ 3G units before 30th June 2024. They are now looking for a third party to manage the replacement program.
Other suppliers have advised Fleet News Group that they will be focusing on existing customers to make sure they have the 4G devices installed before the deadline.
“This is a risk for fleets that rely on their telematics systems for lone worker monitoring and other critical business process,” says Emanuel. “Fleet Managers need to work with their existing supplier partners to make sure they will be able to switch over to 4G before the deadline.”
