Federal Member for Flinders, the Hon Greg Hunt MP, and Minister for Regional Communications, Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie have announced two new mobile phone towers in Flinders from the Priority Locations round of the Coalition Government’s $220 million Mobile Black Spot Program.
This announcement delivers on the Coalition’s commitment to address the coverage issues identified in the Red Hill and Shoreham communities.
Minister Hunt said the new coverage would open new doors for local businesses and the community.
“I understand how vital mobile communications are in modern life and these new towers will provide much improved coverage for the Red Hill and Shoreham communities,” Mr Hunt said.
“I have been fighting for improvements to these blackspots in Canberra for some time and I am thrilled that these new towers will be providing better coverage the local community soon.”
“The Coalition’s Mobile Black Spot program is already delivering new or improved coverage to 765 new mobile base stations across regional and remote Australia and it is great to see that our electorate of Flinders will benefit from this.”
Minister for Regional Communications, Bridget McKenzie said construction of the new mobile phone towers will get underway soon.
“We’ve committed $220 million to improve mobile black spots across our vast country. $60 million of this funding is targeting priority black spot areas with poor or no mobile coverage, like in Red Hill and Shoreham,” Minister McKenzie said.
The Coalition Government’s Mobile Black Spot Program is improving mobile coverage across Australia including along major regional transport routes, in small communities and at identified priority locations. More than 456 locations across Australia have already received new or improved coverage through rounds 1 and 2 of the program.
106 priority locations across Australia will benefit from improved mobile phone coverage. Optus, Telstra and Vodafone will build 102 new base stations under the Priority Location round. In addition, the carriers have commercial plans for new base stations that will further address mobile black spot issues in a number of the identified locations.
More information about the program and a list of the priority locations is available at: communications.gov.au/mbsp