Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor has hailed new small cell antennas as ‘another breakthrough’ for local communities with poor internet.

“We haven’t got to everyone yet, but we’re working very, very hard to fix slow internet speeds and poor mobile reception. There’s a whole series of different technologies that have to be deployed across rural Australia in order to get everybody good internet and good mobile phone coverage – satellite, fixed wireless towers and the fibre rollout. There’ve been significant wins for Hume.”

Mr Taylor was in Dalton on Monday with Parliamentary Secretary for Communications Paul Fletcher and Member for Goulburn Pru Goward to hear from Telstra about ‘small cell’ 4G internet in Dalton.

Telstra’s General Manager Chris Taylor said small cells worked in tiny communities, like Dalton, where there was no base station and a centrally located Telstra exchange. “The small cell is only just being rolled out across Australia. It’s fixed to an existing exchange building, providing 4G data capacity (with speeds of up to 30 megabits per second), to about a 600 metre wide area. It will be expanded to voice in the next little while.”

Paul Fletcher said the Federal Government was prioritising solutions for rural areas which had missed out so badly under Labor. “What we’ve got all around this country is a situation where many roads might go for 50 or 250km, with no coverage on them at all. To then get to a little village and get coverage is going to be a huge boon to travellers and also to people who live in that village. At the moment the 4G small cell supports data, but within a few months Telstra says there will be a voice over 4G product as well. It’s all good news for rural communities.”

Mr Fletcher  said the government was launching the first of two new satellites in just over a month, to bring satellite broadband to areas that could not be connected to the fixed line or fixed wireless networks. He said importantly Dalton would also be receiving a new mobile phone base station, one of 18 going up across the electorate.

Ms Goward said the NSW Government had joined the Federal Government in significant investment to improve mobile phone blackspots.

“The NSW Baird Government has committed $25million to reducing mobile blackspots. I think it will make a huge difference here, with so many people trying to work online and so many people commuting to Canberra,” Ms Goward said.

At an information session at the Dalton pub today, locals were keen to hear about the arrival time of new technologies.

The morning concluded with a visit to Dalton Public School where a new Telstra smart antenna has been installed to boost voice and data coverage inside classrooms. Staff say the improved coverage is peace of mind for families in case of an emergency.

Caption 1: Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor addressing a crowded Dalton pub about telecommunications improvements coming to Dalton.

Caption 2: Federal Member for Hume Angus Taylor with Telstra General Manager Chris Taylor and Parliamentary Secretary for Communications Paul Fletcher at the new small cell unit installed on the Dalton Telstra exchange, bringing 4G internet to the community.

Caption 3: Angus Taylor, Paul Fletcher and Pru Goward with Dalton Public School students and staff. Dalton Public School has recently had installed a smart antenna to boost voice and data capacity inside classrooms.