By Parker McKenzie
The Yarra Ranges has received a huge boost to telecommunications infrastructure through Connecting Victoria, with more new mobile towers being built around the region.
The $255 million project will see towers funded and built in Dixons Creek, Chum Creek, Healesville and Gruyere, alongside dozens throughout the Yarra Ranges and Dandenong Ranges.
Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy Jaala Pulford said the investment will help local businesses create the jobs and industries of the future.
“This massive program will make Victoria the best-connected state,” she said.
“Over two million households will have faster speeds for healthcare, school, work and staying in touch with loved ones.”
The Victorian government plans to build 309 new mobile towers, upgrade 492 existing towers to 5G, adapt 170 towers to be used by multiple telco providers and make 137 towers more resilient during natural disasters by 2026 by working with telecommunication companies Axicom, ENE.HUB, Optus, Telstra and TPG Telecom.
Dr Peter Brennan, who has advocated for telecommunications resilience in the area and previously worked with Connecting Victoria to identify mobile black spots, said the announced mobile towers would help alleviate issues plaguing the area.
“It’s a triad of approaches, there are three things that need to be done and thought about, they are in a sense connected necessities: our telecommunications, internet/NBN and the stability of the electricity supply,” he said.
“This is a big step forward for the telecommunications coverage; it may not be 100 per cent coverage but let’s hope it will get a lot better.”
Loss of power to mobile base stations and pre-existing mobile black spots were highlighted as two key vulnerabilities during the 2019-2020 bushfires by an independent review of telecommunications infrastructure resilience by the Inspector General for Emergency Management, while the June 2021 storm weather event created the largest power outage in Victorian history, with 3000 people in the Dandenong Ranges losing power for three weeks according to a report by Emergency Management Victoria.
