Mobile Black Spot gets two new funding rounds for Telstra, Optus towers in bush areas

Australians in rural and regional areas don’t need to be told how bad their mobile services are, but if you’re one of them it might get better soon.

Rural and regional Australians are set to benefit from better mobile reception as the government’s Mobile Black Spot program enters its fifth round.

The funding program began in 2015 as a way to improve the communications infrastructure in the bush.

Over the resulting four rounds of funding, the government gave money to Telstra, Optus and Vodafone to help meet the costs of building better infrastructure for the bush.

Rural areas tend to be underserved by communications utilities because there are less people in the limited area each mobile phone tower or telephone exchange can serve, meaning building and maintaining the service was less financially enticing for the telcos.

In an effort to combat this, the government began the black spot program to provide just enough funding for the telcos that it would become worth their time and money investing in providing better infrastructure.

Bridging this divide to bring better communications to the bush was also one of the primary aims of the national broadband network.

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One of the towers the program has helped fund. Picture: Brendan Francis

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On Tuesday morning, communications minister Paul Fletcher announced the government would contribute funding for a further 182 base stations.

He said the announcement brings the total number of base stations the program has helped fund to 1229 “underlining [the government’s] 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,” Mr Fletcher added.

“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.

More than 800 of the funded base stations from previous rounds are now live.

“I thank Telstra, Optus and Vodafone for their work in getting us to this point, and importantly for their ongoing commitment to the Program,” Mr Fletcher added.

Round 5 involves $34 million from the government, which is expected to be matched by around a further $40 million from the telcos and state governments.

There was $80 million in total funds available, but some of the remaining $46 million will now be used to test different ways of delivering the program in the future.

That’s because the way the program is currently set-up is less economical for the telcos, meaning fewer sites or upgrades in the future if the scheme isn’t adjusted.

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Telstra’s tower in Blackwood was partially funded by the government.

The government has released discussion papers for that next round of funding on Tuesday as well.

The aim is to improve mobile connectivity along major transport corridors and disaster-prone regions as well as test new technologies that support shared mobile coverage in regional areas.

The newly funded stations are expected to start construction in the coming months, with some going live before the end of the year.

The majority of new sites will be in WA (63), with Queensland following with 40.

NSW will get 25, South Australia 17, Victoria 13, Tasmania 11, Northern Territory 10, and the ACT three.

After applying, Telstra will use the funds to help build 97 of the new sites and Optus 83, with a company called Field Services Group receiving the remaining two sites to build multi-use towers capable of delivering mobile phone coverage as well as broadband internet.

More towers will be built thanks to the latest funding round.

Field Services Group CEO Andrew Roberts said his company was “proud to pioneer the delivery of our multi-use tower strategy.

Vodafone won’t be building any of the new sites but a company spokesperson said in past rounds the telco has delivered an additional 36,700 square kilometres of coverage, extended 4G coverage to 16,000 more homes, and added almost 1500 kilometres of 4G coverage along major transport routes.

Telstra networks executive Nikos Katinakis said “we are proud that we have delivered hundreds of mobile base stations and invested $280 million to deliver coverage to our most regional and remote customers.”

Optus vice president of regulatory and public affairs Andrew Sheridan congratulated the government on reaching the 800 site milestone and said Optus is looking forward to future rounds.

“Optus is a strong supporter of the program, which is bringing coverage and competition to regional Australia, in many places for the first time,” Mr Sheridan said.

He added the company, which will tip in $22.2 million for this round of funding, joining $25.4 million from the government and $5.3 million from the states, “acknowledge the important contribution of the Federal and State Governments in funding this additional network infrastructure and coverage.”

Originally published as Mobile Black Spot gets two new funding rounds for Telstra, Optus towers in bush areas