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Telstra to invest in small cell rollout under government’s Mobile Black Spot Programme.
Telstra on Monday named 135 rural communities in Australia in which it will roll out small cells in order to tackle mobile black spots as part of a government initiative to improve coverage.
The incumbent operator said the government made the small cells announcement, but that the rollout will be funded by Telstra as part of a A$165 million commitment to the state’s project to tackle coverage black spots.
"The introduction of fast 4G data services via a small cell in these locations will mean residents will be able to access social media and video on the go for the first time as well as increased opportunities for local businesses," said Telstra’s managing director for networks, Mike Wright, in a statement.
"It also opens a digital door to emerging technologies such as Voice over LTE (VoLTE), which will, in due course, allow customers to make voice calls using 4G," he added.
Wright said Telstra worked closely with the government to identify the communities to receive small cells and will continue to do so in future, to extend the technology to more rural areas.
The executive also noted that Telstra is expanding 3G and 4G to 429 communities under the first phase of the government-funded Mobile Black Spot Programme.
"When we made our bid under round one, our core objective was to maximise new coverage to regional communities, which is why we made this additional pledge to further expand mobile data services at our own expense," Wright said. Telstra has begun work connecting the first of those 429 communities.
Telstra has published a full list of the 135 locations to receive small cells. They include 41 communities in New South Wales, 31 in Queensland, 26 in South Australia, 14 in Victoria, 10 in Tasmania, eight in the Northern Territory and five in Western Australia.
