Media Release, 20 March 2018

Carrajung Lower part of $20 million in Telstra mobile network upgrades for Gippsland

Coverage along the Hyland Highway, a major commuter route between Traralgon and Yarram, is now significantly improved following the recent switch-on of the Carrajung Lower mobile base station.

Telstra CEO Andy Penn was in Gormandale (Gippsland) today to announce the completion of the Carrajung Lower base station, and Telstra’s own $20 million investment to improve mobile connectivity in the region.

“We are investing $20 million across the Gippsland region this financial year, including capacity and speed upgrades to existing base stations, the roll out of new small cells for 4G coverage and Telstra’s contribution to the Federal Government Mobile Black Spot Program,” Mr Penn said.

“The investment will be delivered through 40 projects to improve coverage and increase capacity and speed.  This includes 16 new projects to upgrade our network in locations such as Mt Livingston and Mt Oberon and 16 mobile black spot sites including Buchan South and Butchers Ridge.”

The Gormandale community was one of the first to benefit from the Federal Government’s Mobile Black Spot Program when its mobile base station was switched on in June 2016.

In the 22 months since Gormandale had its mobile base station switched on more than 500,000 calls have been made, and 34 terabytes of data downloaded.

“In a few weeks we’ll be celebrating 100 mobile base stations in Victoria under the Mobile Black Spot Program and just this week we switched on the 350th base station nationally,” Mr Penn said.

“Each base station we switch on brings Telstra’s 3G and state of the art 4GX mobile data services to the region, allowing the community to keep in contact with family and friends and run their businesses more effectively.

“Telstra has a long history of investing in regional Australia, and over the last three years has invested $2.2 billion in its regional mobile network so more Australians can experience a connected world that supports their way of life.”

The investment in increased coverage is further augmented by Telstra’s recently launched Internet of Things (IoT) capability, which provides IoT coverage to around three million square kilometres, connecting devices and apps to new and innovative technology from agriculture apps that enable farmers to measure soil moisture to IoT sensor based tracking of plant and equipment parcels in the field and in transit.

-ENDS-

Background

Telstra invested around $2.2 billion between FY15-FY17 in delivering mobile services in non-metro areas of Australia including our investment in regional spectrum.  This is Telstra only investment and excludes co-contribution from external parties.

In addition to 577 new mobile base stations nationally, Telstra is continuing to install up to 250 Small Cells to deliver high speed 4G data services in some small country towns where suitable Telstra infrastructure is available.

Media contact: Telstra State Media Manager James Kelly 

media@team.telstra.com

Media number: 040/2018