After years of lobbying and frustration over the lack of telephone and internet coverage, the end may be in sight for residents in the Baldersleigh area.
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Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce announced this week that a new mobile phone tower will be constructed in the area under the Mobile Black Spot Programme - if the coalition wins the upcoming election.
New mobile base stations will be also be constructed at Copeton Dam, Fig Tree Hill south of Inverell and Kingstown, providing benefits to emergency service operators, businesses, and residents.
The announcement has been welcomed by members of the Baldersleigh Telephone and Internet Users Group who have been lobbying for better coverage for the last three years.
It is a win for people power and follows years of what the group describes as ‘unfruitful interaction’ with all Telstra divisions and numerous approaches made to state and federal members of parliament, local shire council, the NSW Chambers of Commerce and the telecommunications ombudsman.
Residents in the area banded together to lobby for better coverage and even commissioned a report to look at the existing coverage. They say that previously adequate service from mobile towers at Tingha and Mt Duval has declined over recent years to the point when it is slow, unreliable and sometimes non-existent.
The report identified three suitable sites to build a new mobile tower, which would potentially cover a large area encompassing Baldersleigh, Longford, Bundarra, Tenterden and Wandsworth.
Lynne and Wal Chapman, who operate a tourism business in the area, have welcomed the news but say they will not be celebrating just yet.
“We are thrilled to bits that there is finally light at the end of the tunnel,” Lynne said. “Having access to a reliable phone and internet service would reduce our stress levels enormously and mean that we would be able to carry on our business in a professional way.”
“However construction is a long way off and may not happen if Labor wins the election, so we will just wait and see.
Mr Joyce said this 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.
“We have selected these areas because they have been overlooked by mobile network operators due to commercial factors,” Mr Joyce said.
“A re-elected Turnbull-Joyce government will invite mobile network operators to bid for this new funding to provide coverage in the four identified locations.
