ELT - a good idea in any and all aircraft
It is self contained and there to help SAR teams get to you in the event of a crash. Of course you are right in that most all commercial operators have satellite tracking regardless of control zone type. What if aircraft power is lost suddenly or standard communication equipment fails? Or what about a sudden event where the crew could not get out a distress call?
Modern 406 ELTs transmit exact position for an extended period of time. Very useful if one ever had to ditch and was floating around in the sea. Also useful regardless because the ELT will outlast any other electrical communications after an event.
Bottom line: one faulty ELT is hardly cause to discuss getting rid of them all together on scheduled airliners.