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Mobile blackspot program selection process will soon begin
A COMPETITIVE selection process for mobile blackspot funding will begin within weeks.
That’s according to Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher, who was in the Bega Valley on Wednesday to hear from local organisations about their concerns over mobile phone coverage.
He also had the opportunity for a guided tour of the NBNCo satellite ground station at Wolumla along with Member for Eden-Monaro Peter Hendy and Bega Valley Shire Mayor Michael Britten.
Mr Fletcher is responsible for implementing the Federal Government’s Mobile Black Spot Program – a $100million investment to improve mobile phone coverage in outer metro, regional and remote Australia.
The Bega Valley has around 30 of the 6000 locations nominated by Australians as having inadequate mobile coverage.
Mr Fletcher said mobile network operators will now have an opportunity to nominate locations from that list where they would install a base station, outlining costs and what subsidy they would need from the government.
“I would expect around 250-300 locations from that list of 6000 will receive funding from the government,” Mr Fletcher said on Wednesday.
Mr Fletcher said locations would be prioritised on criteria including if they were main traffic routes or existing communities without adequate service, areas prone to natural disasters, or those with significant seasonal variation in numbers of mobile phone users.
As part of their community consultation over mobile telecommunication services and blackspot concerns, Mr Fletcher and Dr Hendy met with representatives from the council, Rural Fire Service and SES in Bega on Wednesday.
“Mobile phone reception is a major issue for our community, impacting on community safety and holding back economic growth,” Dr Hendy said.
“There is a strong need to improve mobile phone reception in the Bega Valley and right around Eden-Monaro, and I am pleased that Paul Fletcher has come to the Bega Valley to hear first-hand the problems that we have with mobile phone reception."
The government will shortly begin the competitive selection process, with a view to announcing the locations that have been selected for funding in the first half of 2015.
The first base stations funded under the program are expected to begin to roll out in the second half of 2015.
A database of all nominated black spot locations in Eden-Monaro is available on theDepartment of Communications website.
By Ben Smyth in the Bega District News
