Angus Kidman explains how an ATM could be installed beyond the black stump.

Published in The Bulletin, May 12 2003

Australia's most remote automatic teller machine isn't actually located on the mainland. On Badu Island, in the Torres Strait some 40 kilometres north of Thursday Island, the local population (about 700 people) can withdraw cash and check balances through a machine installed in the local hotel.

Despite its distant location, the Badu Island ATM still uses a leased telephone line and a power plug, much as an ATM would in a suburban shopping mall. To place teller machines in more remote locations such as the middle of deserts, or even just to make them available on beaches during surf carnivals or at football stadiums, technologies are needed to provide power and establish connections to bank networks.

A team based in Dundee, Scotland, thinks it may have solved both problems. Researchers for manufacturer NCR have built a prototype ATM that uses solar power for operation and the mobile GSM network for sending and receiving data. The machine is equipped with two solar batteries: one recharges while the other is busy dispensing cash.

The fact that it worked effectively in sun-starved Scotland suggests that functioning in the outback would not be a challenge. "Sun is at a premium in Dundee," laughs Mark Grossi, chief technology officer for NCR's financial services division, who headed the project. The biggest challenge in building the prototype, a process which took 18 months, was shrinking the solar power components so they would fit in a one-metre-square box.

Challenges which still need to be addressed include security. "Banks say, 'It's easy to deploy, therefore it's easy to remove'," explains Grossi. One possible solution may be to install a global positioning system (GPS) detector and programming it so the device will only function at specified locations.