Optus hopes a $3.5 million plan to build seven new mobile phone towers across Bendigo will enable the telco to become a serious competitor with rival Telstra for regional customers.
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Chief executive officer Allen Lew announced the plan yesterday, saying the new towers would service “hot spots” in Bendigo to improve coverage for customers in growth corridors and erode Telstra’s market dominance.
“We know there are some new areas of housing that are popping up where our in-building coverage perhaps can be improved and that’s where we have new towers coming up nearby,” he said.
“We know that to compete in this market the most important thing is to have the right infrastructure and we believe our historical investment, plus the new investment going ahead, will make us a viable competitor to the largest player in this market and will give us the credibility to offer customers in this region choice.”
The plan will see new towers built at Lockwood, Maiden Gully, the Bendigo Showgrounds, Ironbark, Jackass Flat, Quarry Hill, and Flora Hill.
Optus hopes the investment will also result in better coverage along the Calder Highway at Kyneton West, Woodend and Sunbury South, and along the Midland Highway at Castlemaine and Mount Helen.
The announcement comes on the back of a previous $7 million investment in infrastructure in Bendigo during the past two years.
Mr Lew said improving the telco’s regional coverage was a big part of the plan to take on Telstra’s dominance.
“While our nationwide market share’s about 30 per cent we believe that our regional market share is below that, just because our network is not as dense or as wide as the biggest player in this market,” he said.
“When you look at a city like Bendigo with slightly more than 100,000 people and with a projection over the next five to 10 years of growing to 140,000 to 150,000, that is a huge opportunity for us.”
Mr Lew said the new towers would host Optus’ 4G Plus network, which could deliver speeds of up to 40 megabits per second.
“This is more than enough for customers who are using it to stream high-definition 4K videos onto their respective mobile devices,” he said.
The works are due to be completed by the end of March next year, with planning permits either approved or in the final stages of approval.
