OPTUS COMMITS A FURTHER $17.5 MILLION TO IMPROVE MOBILE COVERAGE IN TASMANIA

Optus has today announced a further $17.5 million commitment to improve 4G mobile coverage in Tasmania.

The investment will deliver improved call quality and faster download speeds for mobile customers in and around Hobart, Launceston, Devonport and Tasmania’s east coast.

Investment in Hobart and surrounds

• Over the next two years Optus will build new mobile sites in and around the Hobart CBD
• Over the past year Optus has built and activated new sites in the east and west of Hobart’s CBD; Howrah; Warrane; Lauderdale; Bellerive Oval; and Opossum Bay

Investment in Devonport and surrounds

• Over the next two years Optus will build new mobile sites in Devonport’s northern and western suburbs, Railton; Sassafras; Forth; Acacia Hills; and Latrobe
  In the past year Optus has built and activated a new site in Devonport’s CBD

Investment in Launceston and surrounds

• Over the next two years Optus will build new mobile sites in Mole Creek, West Launceston & Oatlands

Investment in Tasmania’s east coast

• Over the next two years Optus will build new sites in Buckland, Eaglehawk Neck, Orford, Coles Bay, and Binalong Bay

Optus Vice President of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs Andrew Sheridan said, “Optus is boosting our investment in our Tasmanian network because we recognise the importance of reliable mobile coverage to our customers and the importance of connectivity to the state’s economy.”

“In the next two years Optus will spend over $17.5 million building 35 mobile sites throughout Tasmania. This investment adds to the $5 million we have spent building ten new sites and $7 million spent upgrading 36 sites to 4G in the past year. Our investment will provide Tasmanians and the state’s 1.26 million¹ annual visitors with more choice and better Optus mobile coverage, call quality and download speeds.”

Optus’ commitment to Tasmania includes new sites in Cradoc and Cradle Mountain to be built over the next two years.

Earlier this year Optus announced a separate $6 million commitment to build 12 new sites in and around Launceston at Rocherlea, Legana, South Launceston, Cataract Gorge, Summerhill North, Swan Bay, Deviot, Kayena, Beaconsfield North, Hadspen, Cressy North and Westbury in the next two years.

Mobile Black Spot Program

• The Optus standalone investment is in addition to the launch of Optus’ first Tasmanian site from the Federal Government’s Mobile Black Spot Program, an initiative to improve and extend mobile phone coverage in regional and remote Australia.
• Located in Strathgordon, the site utilises satellite small cell technology, which provides a flexible alternative to traditional mobile towers with the combined benefits of expanding mobile 3G coverage in a concentrated local area in remote and previously unserviced locations.

The Minister for Regional Communications, Senator the Hon Fiona Nash, welcomed Optus’ investment, and in relation to the Mobile Black Spot Program sites, stated: “In total, Rounds 1 and 2 of the Coalition’s Program will deliver new coverage to 32,000 homes and businesses across 86,000 square kilometres including 7,600 of major transport routes via 765 new mobile phone towers,” Minister Nash said.

“I aim to help build the kinds of communities our children and grandchildren either want to stay in or come back to, and better mobile phone coverage is a big part of that.”

In addition to works being completed in Tasmania, Optus mobile phone customers are now able to access the Optus mobile network for voice calls during their Spirit of Tasmania voyage, following the installation of new phone repeaters on the fleet.

Optus’ superfast 4G Plus network now reaches 96.1% of Australians. The Optus network handles over 45 million calls and 80 million SMS messages each day and carries 6,000 terabytes of data each week.

Media contact:

Candice Lester

Optus Corporate Affairs

(02) 8082 7850

media@optus.com.au

¹ Tasmanian Visitor Survey, year ending March 2017 (http://www.tourismtasmania.com.au/research/visitors)