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Regional Communications | September 21, 2022

Nationals announce innovative solutions to improve mobile coverage

Lowan communities will benefit from a $150 million package to improve mobile coverage and broadband services if the Nationals are elected to government.

The package will include rebates for people in areas with poor mobile coverage to install mobile boosters in vehicles, homes and businesses.

The announcement comes as the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman today released its annual report, which shows poor mobile coverage continues to be a regular issue for consumers, with complaints increasing by 6.1 per cent in the past year.

Deputy Leader of the Nationals and Member for Lowan Emma Kealy has consistently advocated to the Labor Government to do more to improve mobile coverage across the electorate, where a number of blackspots exist.

She said the Nationals and Liberals’ Connecting Country Communities program would ensure rural and regional Victorians would not continue to be faced with second-class mobile coverage.

“In a world where we are all being pushed towards the internet in almost every aspect of our daily lives, it is critical that our local residents have better connectivity to help them stay safe, connected to their loved ones and to be able to operate their businesses effectively and efficiently,” she said.

“It’s particularly important for smaller rural communities where we’ve seen banks and government services move to online-only, which means anyone who can’t access a signal also can’t access these services.”

Ms Kealy said unlike Labor, which had allocated a large amount of its Connecting Victoria funding to metropolitan areas, the Liberals and Nationals would ensure rural and regional Victorians were not left behind.

“Regional Victorians are tired of services that drop out and mobile blackspots in their daily commute, which are at best an inconvenience and at worst, a matter of life or death,” she said.

“Our program will address mobile blackspots and unreliable broadband services, as well as investing in strengthening mobile phone towers to ensure people in rural and regional communities can stay in touch during emergencies.”