General News
15 August, 2025
Mobile black spots persist despite carriers’ regional spectrum deal
Despite Vodafone's shared spectrum arrangement with Optus coming into effect earlier this year, enabling the former to expand its mobile footprint in regional areas dramatically, the need to improve the reliability of services continues.
This was highlighted last weekend at Brim, with the Warrack Eagles playing their round 16 WFNL matches against Horsham Demons; the town's only tower is Optus.
With many visitors being Telstra customers due to its generally larger coverage in rural areas, their experience was degraded considerably, with many unable to make calls or even send an SMS – unless they had one of the more recent phone models capable of using satellite for that function.
Further, only portable EFTPOS machines using Optus worked.
Brim Commercial Hotel owner, Allan Crane, said the town's unique 'reverse' situation has highlighted the importance of rural life in 2025, requiring reliable mobile service.
"The way the modern world is has pushed us all towards technology – which is fine – but technology relies on good internet coverage," he said.
"It's a challenging scenario when you're trying to run a business and you can't."
He said the hotel's machine has to run on satellite and he has also taken notice of how the 3G shutdown has affected local farmers.
"I'm not really an authority, but I do hear them comment about it regularly – about how it's affected them negatively," Mr Crane said.
"The coverage as promised, just isn't delivering."
Arriving in town about two years ago, he said he was a Telstra customer "for 30-odd years" and was surprised "there was virtually no service".
Similarly, Ruth Kloeden arrived in Brim about five years ago and works nearby at Dixon's hardware store – she said their EFTPOS on Optus "usually works" but Telstra customers "get about one bar" of service.
"When Telstra put all their towers up, Optus went in and put towers where Telstra wasn't," she said.
"This probably was one of those places where Telstra decided they weren't putting a tower in, and Optus came around."
TPG Telecom – which merged with Vodafone five years ago – entered into a three-part agreement with Optus last year that would hopefully improve the provision of mobile services in certain regional coverage areas, expanding their potential user base.
The changes have meant Optus has borrowed some of TPG's spectrum so its regional towers can send out stronger 4G/5G signals, and TPG will now sell service on the Optus network instead of running almost all of its country towers; most TPG rural towers will be turned off or handed over.
TPG/Vodafone customers (and their Mobile Virtual Network Operator customers such as felix, Kogan, Woolworths and Lebara) benefit by now being able to use rural Optus towers – effectively more than doubling their network access area across Australia – and Optus got extra spectrum to speed up its 5G build in those same areas.
The two carriers' respective networks in metro areas have remained unchanged.
Still, the developments highlight the value of consistent mobile coverage in rural areas with ever-increasing reliance of ag tech on mobile data, be it real-time machinery telemetry, live cams and other imaging, and monitoring of water and temperature, adding to the need for reliable communications in emergencies.
Much of the momentum for construction of rural towers has been initiated by the Federal Government level – the Mobile Black Spot Program began in 2014 and with the first seven rounds has delivered a total investment of more than $1 billion for about 1400 new mobile base stations across Australia, focussing on communities impacted by, or at risk of natural disasters having access resilient mobile communications services; about three-quarters of those towers were Telstra.
The program runs alongside the Regional Connectivity Program, which has been geared to fund the delivery of 'place-based' telecommunications across regional, rural and remote Australia.
The majority of projects under both programs rely on a co-funded arrangement with the Australian Government providing funding, and the remainder of funding is a combination of state and carrier input.
Applications to Round 8 of the MBSP closed in April.
A handful of locations in the region have been earmarked for consideration to win a slice of the $55 million on offer: near Sandsmere, north of Kaniva; then also south of Kaniva alongside the Little Desert; at Pomonal in the wake of the Grampians fires last summer; and Coojar, south of Harrow.