A NEW mobile base station at Drake will be switched on by June, courtesy of public pressure.
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The Drake station, as well as ones in Woolomin and Hillgrove, was selected thanks to public consultation stemming from the federal government’s Mobile Black Spot Programme.
Member for New England Barnaby Joyce had met with Drake residents last year to discuss lingering community concerns over mobile coverage in the area.
“These new mobile base stations at Drake, Hillgrove and Woolomin will bring a much-needed boost to mobile coverage, providing benefits to emergency service operators, businesses, and residents,” Mr Joyce said.
“The Coalition Government understands the importance of mobile coverage in regional and remote areas of Australia, which is why we allocated $100 million for Round 1 of the programme and a further $60 million for Round 2.
“Despite being in government for six years, Labor did not spend one dollar on fixing mobile black spots in regional Australia.”
He said Round 1 of the Mobile Black Spot Programme will deliver almost 500 new mobile base stations in regional and remote areas, including 28 new and upgraded base stations in the New England Electorate.
“This represents the largest one-time increase in mobile network coverage delivered by a single public funding programme in the history of mobile communications in Australia.”
He said the locations of the new or upgraded base stations were selected following an extensive public consultation process which allowed residents in the New England Electorate to nominate mobile black spot locations.