Phone reception on the way to just two of South Australia's 1106 mobile black spots

SA has 1100 mobile black spots – and almost 400 in one electorate, impacting business, safety, and community connection. See our interactive map.

South Australia has more than 1000 mobile black spots, yet only two will be addressed in the next stage of the federal government’s plan to improve coverage around the country.

Two Telstra towers are on the way to Moseley and Brooker on the Eyre Peninsula under round 5A of the Mobile Black Spot Program which will see 67 rolled out across the country.

But Barker MP Tony Pasin said it was not enough.

Member for Barker Tony Pasin.

His electorate, which spans from the Limestone Coast to parts of the Barossa, contains 399 of the state’s 1106 black spots.

“In all honesty, it’s hard to put into words how angry I am about the decision by Australia’s telecommunication companies to turn their backs on rural and remote Australians,” Mr Pasin said.

“I think the executives at these telcos should take a good hard look at themselves and rethink their attitudes to regional Australia.

“Mobile phone coverage is no longer considered a luxury. It’s a necessary tool for doing business.”

Darren Maney, director at TDC Livestock and Property in Penola said poor phone reception had cost him business.

Speaking from Kalangadoo where he couldn’t make a phone call until a phone tower went up just 12 months ago, Mr Maney said there had been huge improvements but were still far too many black spots in the South-East.

“Our business stretches from Keith to Kingston, Hamilton, Coleraine, Edenhope, Apsley,” he said.

“In little towns like Pigeon Ponds and all through the Western District of Victoria, the phone range has improved.

“You get good phone range there yet you can’t get 20km out of Penola on the western side.

“It is pretty clear the rural people in SA are that far behind the Western District.”

Mr Maney provides mobiles and landlines to some of his 26 employees.

“Home phones have become an absolute thing of the past but we’re still finding we’ve got people we’ve got to pay for their home phones as well as their mobile because there’s no guarantee their mobile will work,” he said.

Mr Pasin said round 5A was funded after insufficient interest from telecommunication companies in round 5, but there were still few applications to build mobile base stations in SA.

“It is a crying shame that the government has funding on the table to partner with telcos to address these black spots but the telcos effectively have very limited interest,” he said.

The government has committed $80m in funding to a future round 6 of the program.