April 11, 2014
Member for Wide Bay and Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss has met with Mr Paul Fletcher, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications, to discuss the Federal Government’s new mobile phone black spot program in Wide Bay.
Mr Truss said he took the opportunity to inform Mr Fletcher of the pressing need for better mobile phone service in areas of poor coverage around Wide Bay.
“One of the first issues I raised with the Parliamentary Secretary was the problem of mobile reception in areas around Widgee and along the Cooloola Coast road,” Mr Truss said.
“I was particularly interested to support the idea of co-locating mobile phone transmitters on planned wireless NBN towers, which would provide an opportunity to greatly improve mobile phone coverage for Widgee and other areas in Wide Bay.
“Mr Fletcher confirmed that his department is working on some planning arrangements, which would allow mobile phone carriers to use NBN Co towers to increase their coverage in areas like Widgee.
“We canvassed issues surrounding the switchover to digital television and proposed television station restacking later this year.
“We also discussed reciprocal ‘roaming coverage’ agreements and the sharing of mobile base stations by service providers, to better improve mobile services and pricing in regional areas.”
The Federal Government has committed $100 million to improve mobile coverage.
Further information on the mobile black spot program is available online
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