REGIONAL and rural people with unreliable mobile phone and broadband coverage could become eligible for a support rebate if a Liberal-National State government is elected in November.<\/p>\n
Leader of The Nationals and Shadow Minister for Regional Victoria Peter Walsh has pledged a subsidy which would be offered to those with poor signal to cover the installation of mobile boosters at home, in their vehicles, and at their business.<\/p>\n
\u201cParts of regional Victoria has put up with second-class mobile coverage for too long, and more towers isn\u2019t the only way to help solve this problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need innovative technology to deliver better coverage to country communities who rely on mobile services for everything from business to keeping in touch with their loved ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s particularly important for smaller rural communities where we\u2019ve seen banks and government services move to online-only. It leaves people who can\u2019t get a signal behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
This rebate program comes under a $150 million Connecting Country Communities program which Mr Walsh said would also fund mobile tower strengthening works aiming to boost and secure coverage in preparation for the event of emergencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecently we saw Victorian communities left without mobile coverage in the Black Summer bushfires and the storms in June and October last year. This program will work to make the state\u2019s mobile coverage more resilient,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegional Victorians have been short-changed through Labor\u2019s Connecting Victoria program, with 28 of 88 current programs being within metropolitan Melbourne.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
REGIONAL and rural people with unreliable mobile phone and broadband coverage could become eligible for a support rebate if a Liberal-National State government is elected in November. Leader of The Nationals and Shadow Minister for Regional Victoria Peter Walsh has pledged a subsidy which would be offered to those with poor signal to cover the […]<\/p>\n