Federal Member for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker has welcomed Round 2 of the National Mobile Black Spot Programme which will bring better mobile phone coverage to more areas of the Mid North and North Coast. The competitive selection and bidding process, which allows telecommunications companies to bid for their share of $60 million to install new coverage, or upgrade existing mobile coverage in Round 2, started last month. “We know more than anyone in regional and rural areas such as the North Coast that we need mobile coverage to conduct business efficiently and maintain our social connections,” Mr Hartsuyker said. “Based on the previous Cowper electorate boundary which was in place when Round 2 nominations for black spots were called in December, we had 100 submissions from the top of the electorate at Maclean all the way down to Hat Head and Kempsey. “There are also dozens of nominated black spots sites within the newly defined boundary of Cowper to the south, obviously this is wide-spread issue that the Government is determined to address. “I developed the Mobile Black Spot Programme when the Coalition was in Opposition, and it is great to see real progress, with this programme continuing to make a difference in regional Australia. “We already see Round 1 of the programme delivering benefits to regional and remote Australia, with the first base stations funded under the programme switched on in December 2015,” Mr Hartsuyker said. Four new base stations at Brooms Heads, Hickeys Creek, Minnie Water and Taylors Arm were selected for funding under Round 1 of the programme, which will help address 14 different mobile coverage black spots on the North Coast. The locations selected under Round 2 to receive towers are expected to be finalised by the second half of this year. A map of mobile black spot locations and the locations which will receive new or upgraded coverage under the Programme is available on the National Map: http://nationalmap.gov.au/ There are now more than 10,600 mobile black spot locations in the database, which can be viewed at data.gov.au/dataset/community-reports-of-poor-or-no-mobile-coverage. The full rollout of Round 1 locations will occur progressively over the next three years.