Peri Urban Councils call for focus on grey spots

Peri Urban Councils Victoria (PUCV) is calling on the Federal Government to include the region’s grey spots in the national audit of mobile coverage that is currently underway.

Chair of Peri Urban Councils Victoria Cr Michael Leaney said “People living in the fast-growing fringe region around Melbourne and Geelong are struggling with patchy mobile data coverage, because outdated telecommunications infrastructure has not kept pace with smartphone technology or population growth.”

Grey spots have been defined by the Peri Urban Councils as areas where mobile connectivity is poor or unavailable during peak periods or during certain weather conditions.

“These grey spots in mobile coverage need to be correctly identified as part of the national audit of mobile coverage that is currently underway, so the government can start to invest in a solution” Cr Leaney said.

A recent qualitative survey conducted by Peri Urban Councils Victoria indicated that all member councils experience a patchy connection at certain peak times of day, and 80 per cent of members also reported deterioration in connection at certain times of year.

Bad weather was seen as a contributing factor, with 60 per cent of members citing issues with network connection due to weather.

Cr Leaney explained “We also believe our issues with poor telecommunications are partly due to the rapid population growth across the peri urban councils, which is currently one of the fastest growing regions in the country.”

Since 2007, the population of Bass Coast, Baw Baw, Golden Plains, Moorabool and Surf Coast have been growing at between 2 and 4 per cent year on year, and are projected to welcome an additional 100,000 people by 2036.

Cr Leaney explained that the region’s outdated infrastructure was not designed for smartphones utilising so much data and an urgent upgrade of this infrastructure is required. 
 
The Albanese Government committed at the last election to conduct a national audit of mobile coverage to identify black spots and guide investment priorities. 
 
The work on this audit is already underway and Peri Urban Councils Victoria is calling on the Government to ensure the audit includes an examination of grey spots, to make sure there is a full understanding of the mobile connectivity issues.

“Grey spots are impacting people’s ability to work, learn and connect across our region and identifying the scale of the problem is an essential first step” Cr Leaney said.