More Australians living in Monash will benefit from new and improved mobile coverage under Round 5 of the Morrison McCormack Government’s highly successful $380 million Mobile Black Spot Program.
Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government, the Hon Mark Coulton MP, and Russell Broadbent MP Member for Monash, today announced Monash will receive 1 new base station under Round 5, providing improved mobile coverage in the community.
“It’s great that Monash will soon be benefitting from improved mobile connectivity provided by these new base stations,” Russell Broadbent MP said.
“Improved mobile coverage will help family and friends connect, access quality education and health services, and do business globally,” said Mr Broadbent.
As just one example, people living and travelling through Aberfeldy will now have better phone service to make calls, browse the internet and stay connected with family and friends.
Minister Fletcher said Round 5 of the program will fund a further 182 new base stations for regional and remote communities across Australia.
“The announcement of successful Round 5 locations today brings the total number of base stations being funded under the Federal Government’s Mobile Black Spot Program to 1,229, underlining our ongoing commitment to providing new and improved mobile connectivity to Australians across the country.”
“Improved mobile connectivity makes it possible for Australians to stay connected, access education services, conduct business and remain in contact with family and friends. These activities are critical year-round, but particularly important with people responding to the COVID-19 crisis and spending more time at home,” said Minister Fletcher.
Minister Coulton said, “Our Mobile Black Spot program is connecting regional communities and businesses, enabling them to contribute more effectively to our local, regional and national economies.”
The Federal Government is contributing a total of $34 million to Round 5 of the Program, which will deliver total new investment of more than $73 million together with co-contributions from the funding recipients and state governments.
More than $836 million is being invested in new mobile infrastructure in regional and remote Australia across the five rounds.
This comes as the Mobile Black Spot Program passes a significant milestone with more than 800 mobile base stations now on air across Australia, meaning more coverage in more rural areas.
“More than 77 per cent of the 1047 base stations funded through the first four rounds of the Program are now complete taking us past the 800 mobile base station milestone. I thank Telstra, Optus and Vodafone for their work in getting us to this point, and importantly for their ongoing commitment to the Program,” Minister Fletcher said.
Round 5 base stations are scheduled to roll out in the coming months with the first new base stations expected to be activated by the end of the year.
To view the full list of Round 5 locations visit, or to provide feedback on the discussion paper on the design of future rounds, visit: communications.gov.au/mbsp
