Mobile phone users to gain better coverage

Expanded mobile phone coverage being rolled out across the rugged and remote expanses of the Kimberley has been described as potentially lifesaving by police.

Residents and visitors to the Shire of Broome have benefitted from the 3G technology and access to broadband because of additional towers installed by the State Government.

Five sites — Anna Plains, Bethwyn Rise, Jillian Ridge, Sandfire and Warre Hill — along the Great Northern Highway have been switched on, creating coverage in areas one-time blackspots.

Installation of transmitting infrastructure at Wallal, between Broome and Port Hedland, is expected to be complete in December this year.

Once finished, motorists will be able to drive along the Great Northern Highway within the Broome shire and have near-continuous in-car coverage.

Police Communications Infrastructure program Superintendent Barry Kitson said officers and the public would benefit from the potentially lifesaving coverage.

“Without the 3G component before, it required someone to get within mobile phone range or driving to the nearest town or roadhouse where the alarm could be raised,” he said.

“You could conceivably say that life could be terminated because of the time delay that once existed to get the emergency services out to remote locations.

“We have our own communications but this also gives us an additional form of communication.”

The Department of Transport said the improved coverage recently allowed a motorist to contact emergency services after driving past a car rollover on the Great Northern Highway in which two people were injured about 80km from Fitzroy Crossing.

The new towers are part of the State Government’s $106 million Regional Mobile Communications Project, partly funded through Royalties for Regions.

Regional Development Minister Brendon Grylls said reliable telecommunications was essential to the safety of regional road users. “The community feedback to the roll-out of RMCP has been overwhelming,” he said.

“In one instance a member of the community driving on a Kimberley road that previously had no mobile coverage noticed a road train on fire and was able to contact the emergency services, ensuring the safety of the driver and saving two of the three trailers from being destroyed.”

Science and Innovation Minister John Day said the three-year project was on schedule and would open up a world of technology to people living, travelling and working in regional WA.

“People … in these areas can now make telephone calls, search Google, map their location, tweet, update Facebook and email, all thanks to this project,” Mr Day said.