FEDERAL Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce has today called for nominations of mobile black spot locations in the New England Electorate to be submitted by 31 December for consideration under Round 2 of the Mobile Black Spot Programme.

“The Commonwealth Government has committed $60 million which will help provide new or upgraded mobile coverage in the New England Electorate under Round 2 of the Mobile Black Spot Programme,” Mr Joyce said.

Mr Joyce said earlier this year the New England Electorate has been granted 28 new and upgraded mobile phone tower nominations, covering more than 100 mobile phone blackspots in the first round of the the Programme.

“I strongly encourage residents of the New England Electorate to nominate mobile black spots in the local area before the deadline of December 31,” Mr Joyce said.

 “The Coalition Government understands the importance of mobile coverage in regional and remote areas of Australia. The Coalition invested $100 million under Round 1 of the programme which will see almost 500 new mobile base stations built nationally.

“This is the biggest one-time increase in mobile coverage from a single funding programme in the history of mobile telecommunications in Australia,” Mr Joyce said. 

Locations nominated as mobile black spots by people living in the New England will be added to a national database. The database will be provided to mobile operators as part of a competitive selection process, where operators will be required to nominate sites where they would build new or upgraded base stations to serve the black spot locations nominated by the public.

Successful locations will be determined in accordance with the ranking process set out in the Mobile Black Spot Programme Round 2 guidelines, which will be issued publicly prior to the commencement of the competitive selection process.

The competitive selection process is scheduled to begin in early 2016, and the Government expects to be in a position to announce the successful locations under Round 2 by the end of 2016.

More than 6,000 locations were nominated under Round 1 of the programme, with Round 1 set to provide new or upgraded coverage to around 3,000 of the nominated black spots. Black spots which are not set to receive new or upgraded coverage under Round 1 of the programme will remain in the database as eligible locations for Round 2.

Black spot nominations for Round 2 of the Programme can be made online at www.communications.gov.au/blackspots or emailed to barnaby.joyce.mp@aph.gov.au

A map of mobile black spot locations and the locations which will receive new or upgraded coverage under the Programme is available on the National Map: http://nationalmap.gov.au/ For more information visit: https://www.communications.gov.au/what-we-do/phone/mobile-services-and-coverage/mobile-black-spot-programme