Tuesday, 16 February 2016
RESIDENTS and businesses in across the Northern Tablelands will soon be much better connected, with work now underway on three new mobile phone towers, as part of a plan to eliminate 795 mobile phone black spots across country NSW.
Local state MP Adam Marshall said the region’s residents were the first in NSW to benefit from improved mobile phone coverage.
“The NSW Government has committed an investment of $24 million to fix some of the worst mobile phone blackspots across country NSW,” Mr Marshall said
“This initiative will help locals stay connected, improve local emergency services and make it easier to do business,” Mr Marshall said.
“As part of the three-year rollout, residents and businesses in our region are the first to benefit from a share of the 144 new or upgraded mobile base stations being rolled out as part of the Program.
“Over the next six months, we will see three new towers constructed at Elsmore (east of Inverell), Hillgrove and Invergowrie.
“Already we’ve had the first new tower in NSW installed at Spring Mountain Road, west of Glen Innes, in December last year.”
Mr Marshall said $24 million state government contribution to the program played a significant role in leveraging a $92 million total investment outcome from the Federal Government and the telecommunications sector.
“The NSW Government has worked closely with the Commonwealth and mobile phone carriers to maximise the funding and subsequently the benefits of this program for country NSW,” Mr Marshall said.
“This initiative is a great example of State and Commonwealth Governments working together with the industry to drive a better future for the people of country NSW, which have long missed out on important telecommunications upgrades.”
For further information visit www.communications.gov.au/mobile_coverage or www.industry.nsw.gov.au/mobileblackspots