Under a Liberal and Nationals Government, Victorians in areas with poor mobile coverage would be eligible for a rebate to install mobile boosters in vehicles, homes and businesses.
Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull said the subsidy is part of a $150 million Connecting Country Communities program which will see better mobile coverage and broadband services for regional and rural areas.
“The answer is not simply more mobile towers. While they assist and are a key part of the network, we also need options for those who are in isolated areas, and there are plenty of those in East Gippsland,” said Mr Bull.
“We saw Victorian communities left without mobile coverage in the Black Summer bushfires and recently, the storms in June and October last year. This program will work to make the state’s mobile coverage more resilient.
“On top of the rebates for mobile boosters, there will be an effort to strengthen mobile towers, allowing people to stay in touch during emergencies.
“Regional Victorians have been short-changed through Labor’s Connecting Victoria program, which has a strong focus on improving coverage in the metropolitan area, when there are regional areas without any reception at all.
“Daniel Andrews is spending millions gold-plating the city mobile coverage to shore up votes – all at the expense of people who live in smaller towns who have no coverage at all.”
The $150m program will address several issues plaguing country communities including mobile blackspots, slow and unreliable broadband services as well as disaster-proofing mobile towers.
“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,” Mr Bull said.

Monday, 3 October 2022