TELSTRA’s rollout of the Federal Government’s Mobile Black Spot Program (MBSP) has reached a significant milestone in Queensland.
The former gold mining town Mount Chalmers, north of Rockhampton, is home to Queensland’s 50th black spot site deployed by Telstra under the MBSP.
Telstra area general manager Rachel Cliffe said it was a significant moment for the Mt Chalmers community and for Queensland.
“We have now rolled out 50 new mobile stations in this state and they are among more than 200 locations across Australia who are now benefitting from more mobile coverage through Telstra’s delivery of the Mobile Black Spot Program,” Ms Cliffe said.
“The new mobile base station at Mt Chalmers delivers Telstra’s 3G and state of the art 4GX mobile data services to the region for the first time.
“As the company offering more mobile coverage across the country than anyone else, we know the important role mobile technology plays helping people stay in contact with friends and family, and run businesses effectively.
“We are proud to be part of this important initiative which extends the latest technologies across regional and rural communities, along major regional transport routes, and in locations prone to natural disasters.
“Telstra has invested more in building and operating networks in regional and rural communities that any other provider and we offer more mobile coverage in more parts of Australia.”
Telstra is building a total of 577 new mobile base stations under round 1 and 2 of the Mobile Black Spot Program, more than double all of our competitors combined. Telstra’s rollout of the Mobile Black Spot Program involves co-investment of more than $490 million in regional and rural Australia, with $229m from Telstra, $134m from the Federal Government and tens of millions in additional funding from state and local governments, including the Queensland Government and Livingstone Shire Council.
Of Telstra’s 577 new mobile base stations, 110 are being rolled out in Queensland. Telstra is also continuing to install up to 250 Small Cells to deliver high speed 4G data services in some small country towns where suitable Telstra infrastructure is available.
On average, during the past 10 years about 15 per cent of Telstra’s mobile network capital expenditure was made in remote and very remote parts of Australia, where about two per cent of the nation’s population lives.