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In short:
Telstra and Optus planned to shut down their 3G networks at the end of August.
The move will now be delayed until the end of October due to concerns about public safety.
What's next:
The companies will run a joint public awareness campaign and are advising customers to check their devices and connectivity.
Telstra and Optus will delay the closure of their 3G networks.
The planned shutdown, announced in 2019, was due to take effect at the end of August.
People with 3G-reliant devices now have until October 28 to be ready to move to 4G and 5G networks.
The telcos will use the extension as a final chance to raise public awareness of the impending closures.
Optus Interim chief executive Micheal Venter said it was critical customers checked their devices were compatible with the 4G or 5G network, particularly for emergency calls.
"We are joining with Telstra to launch a public awareness campaign to really drive home the safety message and get the final groups of customers to act," he said.
Farmers and people in regional communities have expressed concerns about phones that would no longer work after the network is shut down.
Telstra's executive for technology development Channa Seneviratne told the ABC's Victorian Country Hour he believed this would be the last extension.
"It's really about what we've heard communicating to our customers and stakeholders about the need to have a little bit more time," he said.
Potential medical device impact
Despite the telco's assurances, the National Rural Alliance is warning there may be hundreds of thousands of people with medical devices operating on 3G that could be affected when the network is shut down.
The alliance says devices such as pacemakers, oxygen and cardio monitors and fall alarms may stop sending updates.
Chief executive Susie Tegan, said it was possible that someone could die and that she was particularly worried about people in regional areas.
"I think often we forget about those people that do not have the money or the understanding of what a shutdown will mean to them," she said.
"The old devices that people currently are not necessarily compatible with the newer 4G and 5G networks."
Elma Milgate lives alone and independently in Minyip in Western Victoria and uses an electronic personal alarm that alerts her daughter, Donna Cameron, when she is unwell or needs help.
Ms Cameron was told she needed to upgrade her mum's device late last year when she called the company supplying the alarm over another issue.
"They said, out of the blue, 'By the way, [you have] to get a new device' because the 3G network was shutting down,'" she said.
"I think companies do have a duty of care to inform people a bit better about this."
The family received financial support through My Aged Care to upgrade the alarm for Ms Milgate ahead of the shutdown, but Ms Cameron said she was concerned others may have to pay up to $500 for a new alarm.
"For a lot of people on the pension or even self retirees, that's a lot of money to have to fork out to get one," she said.
Mr Channa Seneviratne also urged anyone relying on medical equipment to check with suppliers if they will work on the 4G network.
"We will continue to push that message over the remaining period," he said.
Reduced phone reception
John Gladigau, a grain grower in South Australia's northern Mallee and chair of Grain Producers South Australia, said he had heard many stories of reduced phone reception even before the planned 3G switch-off.
"People are saying they don't have coverage now where they did have coverage 12 months ago, or they had coverage across 80 per cent of their farm, and now they've only got coverage across 30 or 40 per cent of their farms," he said.
Jess Barber lives with her family on their wool growing property just outside the rural hamlet Metcalfe and relies on the 3G network to get any mobile connectivity at all.
"[Delaying the shutdown] doesn't solve the problem at hand, but it does allow those that haven't been able to upgrade their devices to do that," she said.
"It doesn't actually solve the problem for those who have poor mobile coverage no matter what happens.
"Two months doesn't feel like it's going to be long enough and I'm guessing we will be in the same position in two months discussing prolonging it a little bit longer."
In a statement to the ABC, Telstra regional general manager Steve Tinker said mobile phone coverage could be impacted by a range of factors.
Those factors include the type of handset, distance from a tower, hills and valleys, tall trees or buildings and whether an external aerial or boosting device is being used.
Mr Tinker added that Telstra was committed to ensuring that 4G coverage would be available everywhere that the company offered 3G coverage.