Better mobile coverage for Optus customers and improved emergency calls across Bowen Mountain

Optus customers around Bowen Mountain – one of the Hawkesbury’s many poor mobile reception areas – should get better reception soon as the company lodge a DA with Hawkesbury Council for a new 25 metre tower.

The new tower will be what’s called a macro cell, which means it potentially covers a much larger area than micro cells, such as the ones promised for the Macdonald Valley.

The antenna will sit at 18 Lieutenant Bowen Road and will swap out an existing Endeavour Energy lattice tower.

While the new antenna will not make reception better for non-Optus users on the Mountain and surrounds, it should provide enhanced emergency mobile phone coverage for everyone in that area.

Macquarie MP Susan Templeman who has long campaigned for better communications across the Hawkesbury said she was pleased about the development.

“Bowen Mountain residents so deserve this mobile reception improvement, and their black spot has sat on telco and government lists for many years,” she said.

“Last year, the lack of mobile coverage in Bowen Mountain meant many people had no phone or internet access for weeks and weeks when the copper landlines failed.

“I was pleased to support a big community campaign to get that resolved, and get the NBN connected, to ease their problems.

“But mobile is the missing link – and, if it’s done right, should give people a greater sense of security and provide a backup when the power goes off and their NBN goes down.”

There is currently no time-scale for the build – the starting point for construction is dependant on when the Development Application process is completed by Hawkesbury Council.

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