Labor candidate for Bass Ross Hart yesterday announced $1.5 million to fix telephone network blackspots around Grindelwald if an Albanese government was elected.
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Mr Hart said that the funding, which is part of a $400 million pledge by the opposition to address regional telephone blackspots nation-wide, will be allocated into their first budget.
The blackspot has been an issue in the area of Grindelwald for several years, and despite being only 25 minutes away from Launceston, has remained unaddressed.
"It's really important for us to recognize the fact that there are a whole range of issues associated with blackspots", Mr Hart said.
"People who are suffering from medical conditions feel unsafe if they're unable to use their mobile phone to call for help. Young people need to be able to contact their parents or to be able to be contacted if they're outside their normal roaming range".
The package will also seek to address internet connectivity issues further north at Kelsos, near Greens Beach.
The spokesperson for residents fighting to improve Grindelwald's coverage Jenny Logie said that upon moving to the area recently she was staggered to find that she had no phone reception in her unit.
Ms Logie said that after conducting a survey of 78 nearby residents she found that 95 percent had either poor or non-existent phone reception, with many resorting to landlines, internet calls, or installing mobile phone signal boosters in their ceilings.
"While the boosters are fairly expensive, they're also for many of [the residents surveyed] becoming less effective. And they're finding as more people put boosters in they actually reduce the effectiveness of them,"
"To be honest, I just don't think in this day and age that's acceptable at all," she said.
Mr Hart was not able to provide details on how the network issues will be fixed, but said that he anticipated a new phone tower would be installed in the area.
"The defective reception here is occasioned by the fact that it's being served very badly by a number of towers, which are a long distance away," he said.
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