A SECOND bid to connect the dots of mobile phone coverage in Wakool Shire’s north-west looks promising, thanks to support from a local member of parliament.
Federal Member for Farrer Sussan Ley is preparing to make a submission for an Optus tower in Willow Vale — 40km east of Balranald along the Sturt Highway — which is still waiting to be covered since being identified as a problem by the shire more than 18 months ago.
Ms Ley said Wakool Shire’s black spot was one of the worst identified across the Farrer electorate, which encompassed almost 250,000 square kilometres of New South Wales.
“There is a significant gap in reception there, and the government hasn’t spent a dollar on mobile phone coverage since 2007,” she said.
“For emergency services, for connecting regional communities; it’s a basic requirement of modern life.”
Technically, the area is not a complete black spot — there is a privately owned Vodafone tower at Willow Vale which covers the Sturt Highway — but it does not extend to outer areas.
Wakool Shire mayor Andrew Douglas said it seemed their first bid, made in 2011, had fallen on deaf ears.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s edition of The
Guardian (13/03/13).
