THE Coalition’s commitment to building a new mobile base station at Kingstown had some good reception from the small community, which has been battling a mobile blackspot for some time.
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New England MP Barnaby Joyce recently announced four locations for new mobile base stations in the region, including Kingstown, Copeton Dam, Fig Tree Hill, south of Inverell and Baldersleigh, west of Guyra.
Kingstown’s key blackspot battler, Jeff Condren, pushed hard for action in late 2015, contacting local politicians and ministers detailing the town’s plight.
“From anybody’s perspective, it’s very welcome news,” Mr Condren said on the announcement.
The Kingstown local guessed it could be a year away before the community saw the new station, but said it would bring the town in step with the “real world”.
“I’ll be able to communicate with businesses on a one-on-one basis,” he said.
“It’s great news. It really is a good thing.”
Mr Condren said the coverage blackspot prevented him from starting “an internet- based business”.
“I can’t send or receive large files; all the things you take for granted when you’ve got 4G,” he said.
“It holds us back from being a player in the real world.”
Deputy Prime Minister Joyce said a re-elected government will invite mobile network operators to bid for this new funding to provide coverage in the four locations.
“We have selected these areas because they have been overlooked by mobile network operators due to commercial factors,” Mr Joyce said.
The New England MP said the additional commitment of $60 million on top of the already invested $160 million in blackspots, was the most significant one-time increase in mobile network coverage to regional and remote Australia delivered by a single public funding program in the history of mobile communications in Australia.