Two new mobile base stations announced

The islands were listed as two of the nation’s 125 prioritised black spot locations.

Regional Communications Minister Bridget McKenzie said more than $45.2 million of Commonwealth funding would be spent between Telstra, Optus and Vodafone to build 102 base stations to improve mobile connectivity around the country.

Each station is understood to cost between $500,000 to $1 million, with the private sector chipping in to increase the investment pool to $86.4 million.

Within the next 12 months, Optus will build a station on Russell Island’s southern end for shared use by Telstra and other service providers, helping to ease the load on the island’s existing Telstra station.

Another base station will also be built by Telstra at North Stradbroke Island to improve mobile connectivity for its own customers and other service providers.

The stations will offer 3G and 4G network coverage and are designed to accommodate network adaptions. The infrastructure should also deliver wireless internet speeds of about 20 mgps to users.

Bowman MP Andrew Laming said public funding incentivised private sector investment in less populated areas, like Russell and North Stradbroke islands.

“This is wonderful news for Stradbroke and Russell islands with mobile coverage improvements and the increased ability for emergency services to communicate in the event of any bush fires or natural disasters” he said.

Mr Laming met with Ms McKenzie at Weinam Creek for her funding announcement, with Redland City mayor Karen Williams, division five councillor Mark Edwards, Telstra representatives Channa Seneviratne and May Boisen and Optus’ Vin Mullins also there.

The group later travelled to Russell Island to meet residents for the announcement.

Ms Boisen thanked Cr Williams for her push to secure black spot funding for the region.

Cr Williams visited Canberra twice in the past two months to campaign for improved mobile connectivity across bayside islands and for 12 day battery back-up for stations.

She said reliable mobile connectivity would ensure people could call for help during emergencies but more work was needed.

“Today’s announcement is a good start, but there is still more to be done to ensure our city has the telecommunications and internet connectivity it requires and I will continue to lobby the federal government for these improvements,” she said.