The MBSP has come a long way since November 20, 2015, with Telstra noting it "completed the construction of the first mobile base station at Marlborough Queensland".
By the completion of the current five rounds of the MBSP program, Telstra says it will have invested "up to $290 million and delivered more than 880 new mobile base stations", while the company is "also investing to build another 35 under State mobile black spot programs".
Telstra's Group Executive of Networks and IT, Nikos Katinakis, wrote about this great milestone in a Telstra Exchange blog post entitled "Connecting out 700th mobile black spot to the future".
Well, even though Arrowsmith is not Aerosmith, I'm glad you chose to surf this way because you don't want to miss a thing. After all, Telstra sure has chipped away at the stone to get to the 700 mobile black spot mark no longer being 700 mobile coverage issues, generating a lot of sweet emotion in the newly connected - this is definitely not the same old song and dance.
It could even be a big ten inch record, with the seasons of wither and dither finally over, letting you walk the dog without livin' on the edge of mobile coverage - and as you'll see from Ray below, it isn't just the voices of youth that are rejoicing.
Arrowsmith East is some 4500 kilometres (by road) on the other side of Australia, and thanks to a new base station, is now delivering coverage to local residents, businesses and road-trippers.
Telstra's aforementioned Nikos Katinakis said the completion of the Federal and State Government and Telstra funded 700th site was the culmination "of more than four years of regional and rural investment and hard work by local technicians working to deliver coverage to some of the most isolated places in the world".
Katinakis added: “From Eggs and Bacon Bay in Tasmania, to the Pub With no Beer in NSW, the goldfields historical township of Walhalla in Victoria and a remote sheep farm in Culla (Western VIC) new coverage is delivering real benefits to those communities.
“We can sometimes take for granted what mobile connectivity can mean, and for these communities mobile coverage has meant the ability to do the simple things, EFTPOS transactions, call and message with family and fast mobile broadband to stream and download content.”
Since the inception of the Mobile Black Spot Program, Telstra in co-operation with the Federal Government and participating State and Territory Governments has delivered:
- More than 194,000 square kilometres of new or improved coverage nationally
- More than 5600 kilometres of new or improved highway coverage along some of Australia’s busiest, longest and most isolated highway trucking and tourism routes
“Additionally we’ll also have delivered 220 Telstra solely funded small cells across the country, that are delivering coverage to those harder to reach areas with smaller populations,” Katinakis continued.
Of course, Telstra states that "new and improved coverage to communities doesn’t only enable customers to watch Netflix - but also to keep in touch with family and friends more easily.
"In a critical situation mobile coverage can also play an essential role in saving lives, when every second counts.
"During the rollout of the program more than 45,000 emergency triple zero calls have been made, some in the most isolated parts of Australia".
Katinakis continued: “The completion of Arrowsmith East delivers coverage to the last 100 kilometres of road, between Mingenew to Eneabba.
“Through a combination of our own investment and the Mobile Black Spot Program the Brand Highway now has coverage almost the entire length.
“Arrowsmith East locals have also said coverage now means they don’t need to walk up hills in their paddocks to make calls and can make quicker decisions about where to move their livestock while working in the field according to what the weather might be doing.”
And that brings me the locals in question and their actual quote, which is:
Ray Morgan is a local Arrowsmith East farmer, with Ray and his son, Craig Morgan, land owners near where the new Arrowsmith East mobile site is located, whose property has farmed wheat, sheep and cattle since 1967.
Both have welcomed the new site as making "a significant difference to the way that the farm operates as well as providing coverage along nearby roads".
Ray, who is a healthy 76 years young said: “Having mobile coverage makes a wonderful difference. Out here a mobile phone is an important part of a bloke’s business, such as, trying to get the latest information on weather before deciding to move stock or whether to spray a paddock".
Meanwhile, son Craig said: “The biggest thing is having access across the majority of the farm and not having to walk up a hill to make a call. Now we can access the latest data/information on the go and not have to wait or make a special journey to a user friendly site".
Ray said the Arrowsmith East mobile site also provides the final section of coverage that enables motorists to be connected from Mingenew to Eneabba, which is a 100km journey.
“There is a section of road dubbed ‘Hazards’ by the locals and as you can presume it lives up to its namesake and it's very comforting to know mobile coverage is on hand and available to help anybody who may need assistance,” he concluded.
Telstra also shared some key stats:
- After the latest round of the federal government’s Mobile Black Spot Program (round 5) is completed, Telstra will have invested up to $290 million and built more than 880 new sites to improve coverage for regional areas around the country.
- We are also investing to build another 35 mobile sites under state sponsored blackspots programs.
- More than 194,000 km2 of new coverage and 5600 km of new road coverage from all projects built (to date).
- There has been 350 million calls (sent or received to blackspot sites), 36,000TB downloaded(36PB) and 3500TB uploaded (3.5PB).
