Optus will invest $3.5 million across the Ballarat area over the next two years in a bid to improve its local coverage.
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The telecom provider will build new towers at Ballarat Base Hospital, Newington, Alfredton, Delacombe, Lake Wendouree North, Ballarat Airport and Bonshaw.
The investment will also improve coverage along the Western Highway at Ballan, Rockbank and Brookfield, the Glenelg Highway at Smythes Creek and the Midland Highway at Castlemaine and Creswick South.
Optus chief executive Allen Lew said Ballarat’s expected population boom – forecasted to jump to 160,000 by 2040 – has incentivised the major investment.
“We see a lot of growth potential (in Ballarat),” Mr Lew said.
“The reason I’m here today is not just to make the infrastructure announcement, but also to look at our customer needs in how we engage with the population and our points of presence.
“I think there are a couple of areas (for black spots).
“There are a couple of growth areas with new houses and developments (such as Lucas) that have come up. We will be covering those areas in another six months and we’ll go through the planning process to acquire the sites.”
The funding comes on the back of the $6 million investment Optus has made over the past two years to upgrade mobile sites to 4G at Mt Buniyong, Wendouree, Wendouree North, Sebastopol, Mt Helen, Ballarat West, Ballarat East, Ballarat North, Mount Clear, the Ballarat CBD and Eureka.
Mr Lew also condemned the recent Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recommendation to share infrastructure with other telco’s, meaning non Telstra and Optus customers would be able to roam on regional networks through infrastructure, such as the planned Optus towers in Ballarat.
“We don’t believe that infrastructure sharing is the way to go,” he said.
“In fact, we believe that whoever wants to be a telco in Australia has to make a critical network (investment).
“A telco’s basic mission is to provide services to our consumers and business customers to help them in their everyday lives and help them get their business done. Infrastructure is a big part of that.
“We’ve made a very concerted effort to build our own network and we are happy to keep building our nework.”’
In a series of Facebook comments to The Courier, Ballarat residents have reported Optus black spots in Miners Rest, Cardigan, Wendouree, Lucas, Alfredton, Canadian and even Sturt Street.