The 200-person village of Goolma is soon be connected with the rest of the world following the construction of a much-needed mobile phone tower.
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Construction of the tower 40 kilometres north-west of Wellington began mid-October and is funded under Round 1 of the Australian Government’s Mobile Black Spot Program.
It will be officially launched in Goolma on Tuesday once the testing phase is complete.
Federal Member for Calare, Andrew Gee, said it is a fantastic move which will benefit the surrounding district.
“Goolma tower is one of the 499 new and improved base stations identified as part of Round 1, which are delivering new and improved coverage to 25,500 homes and businesses across 68,600 sq km of handheld coverage and 5700 kilometres of major transport route coverage across Australia,” Mr Gee said.
“This long awaited base station will deliver 3G and 4G mobile coverage to Goolma and the surrounding region, and this is terrific news for residents, businesses, farmers, motorists and Goolma Public School!”
Telstra Area General Manager, Mike Marom, said it is a significant moment for the Goolma community who join more than 200 locations across Australia to benefit from more mobile coverage through Telstra’s delivery of the Mobile Black Spot Program.
“The new mobile base station at Goolma delivers Telstra’s 3G and state of the art 4GX mobile data services to the region for the first time,” he said.
“As the company offering more mobile coverage across the country than anyone else, we know the important role mobile technology plays helping people stay in contact with friends and family, and run businesses effectively.
“Telstra has invested more in building and operating networks in regional and rural communities that any other provider and we offer more mobile coverage in more parts of Australia.”