Minister for Regional Communications, Senator Bridget McKenzie, has announced the outcomes of the latest round of the Mobile Black Spot Program, which aims to improve mobile coverage across Australia.
Optus, Telstra and Vodafone will receive $45.6 million in Commonwealth funding to build 102 new base stations under the 'priority locations' round of the program.
"This is in addition to the 19 locations already being addressed under Commonwealth Government programs, or through carriers recognising that there were coverage issues in these areas and expanding their own networks commercially," Minister McKenzie said.
"I am also pleased to announce that Optus and Telstra have recognised the coverage issues identified at four priority locations and advised that they will address these issues commercially."
The first of the base stations are expected to be rolled out by the end of this year, representing a total of $82.8 million including contributions from the mobile carriers. A number of these locations are also receiving small cells (smaller mobile base stations) under the program.
The funding for these priority locations will also provide for at least 12 hours of back-up power at each macro base station to help ensure mobile coverage is not lost in the event of a power outage.
The base station rollout schedules for all three rounds of the program can be found on the Telstra, Optus and Vodafone websites.