Mobile phone black spots in Moorabool could be targeted by a new plan to improve regional connectivity.
A $40 million Victorian Mobile Black Spots Initiative will provide voice, text, 3G/4G data services and the ability to receive emergency alerts to areas that currently have poor or no mobile coverage.
A government spokesman said it had worked with mobile carriers to locate black spots, cross-referencing them with population numbers, number of premises and businesses, and risk profile for natural disasters.
Funding will be announced later this year, followed by construction of new mobile towers in 2015.
Blackwood resident Noelle Shader, who lost her house in a blaze five months before the Black Saturday fires, said mobile connection would make residents better prepared for the fire season.
“It’s vital, the ability to communicate with people,” Ms Shader said. “We’re not living in a Third World country, even though it feels like it. It’s the cost factor – needing a home phone or landline if you don’t have mobile coverage, it’s a double whammy.”
The initiative will also fix mobile black spots on the Ballarat train line, with public Wi-Fi service provided on the route.
As reported by the weekly, Moorabool mayor Paul Tatchell toured Blackwood, Dales Creek, Greendale, Darley and Ballan in February, experiencing the poor coverage first-hand. “There are black spots all over the place and it’s hampering business,’’ Cr Tatchell said.
The Department of Communications is compiling a database of reported regional locations experiencing poor or no mobile coverage, including 10 in the Ballan and Bacchus Marsh area.
