LOUISE MARKUS MP,
MEMBER FOR MACQUARIE
27 May 2016
Member for Macquarie Louise Markus and the Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield today announced that the Megalong Valley is set to receive mobile coverage under a re-elected Turnbull Government.
Visiting the region with Minister Fifield and speaking to residents about mobile coverage issues, Mrs Markus said a new base station will be delivered under the Turnbull Coalition Team’s $60 million commitment to the Mobile Black Spot Programme announced on Tuesday.
“A new mobile base station in Megalong Valley will bring a much-needed boost to mobile coverage, providing benefits to emergency service operators, businesses, and residents,” Mrs Markus said.
“The Turnbull Coalition Team understands the importance of mobile coverage in regional and remote areas of Australia and that is why we are committing an additional $60 million on top of the $160 million already invested in mobile black spots, bringing the Coalition’s total investment to $220 million.
“The active cooperation of mobile network operators in the Mobile Black Spot Programme has been strong, with 499 new or upgraded base stations covering around 3,000 black spots nation-wide already being rolled out under the Coalition Government under the first funding round.
“This includes four new base stations to be rolled out in Macquarie, which are expected to address 33 of the 43 nominated mobile black spots with handheld or external antenna coverage,” Mrs Markus said.
Following the success of the Coalition’s initial $100 million investment, another $60 million funding round is already under way, with successful locations to be announced by the end of 2016. This means there are further opportunities to improve mobile coverage in Macquarie.
“The previous Labor government did not spend one dollar on fixing mobile black spots in regional and remote Australia,” Minister Fifield said.
“The Coalition’s $220 million plan to address mobile black spots will ensure regional and remote communities have access to wider and more reliable mobile phone coverage.
“This is another example of the Coalition’s commitment to drive investment as part of our national economic plan for jobs and growth,” Minister Fifield said.