The tower is located at the McCrae Street car park near the Dai Gum San precinct, a spot chosen in collaboration with the City of Greater Bendigo.

Optus territory general manager for north Victoria Matt Connell said it was one of six towers to be switched on in Bendigo this year.

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"It's about providing more reliable coverage, particularly for the CBD," he said.

"This is part of a wider investment that we've been making in Greater Bendigo. We've got this tower for the CBD, which will vastly improve our coverage and reliability, and we've also just recently launched a new tower at Flora Hill.

"That's going to provide coverage to La Trobe University, the shopping centre there, both business and residents."

Federal Member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters said ever since she had been voted in to parliament, Optus customers raised issues with mobile service "all the time" with her.

"This is a practical solution to a problem that a lot of Optus users have raised with me," she said.

"It's using modern technology to help people be able to access mobile services when they need to ... with so much of our lives being online these days, it's great that Optus have partnered with the city and with others to build this mini tower here in the heart of town."

In December last year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) blocked a merger between TPG and Telstra, which would've seen TPG tap into Telstra towers in regional Victoria.

The merger was blocked as it would've had a likely negative impact on coverage, network quality and innovation, according to the ACCC.

"The enduring and more substantial impact of the proposed arrangements would be to lessen infrastructure-based competition which would make consumers, including those in regional areas, worse off over time," ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver said.

The ACCC found the merger would provide an unfair advantage to Telstra and limit the "ability of rivals to compete".

Ms Chesters said competition between Telstra and Optus was good, but it must be fair.

"We've got to make sure that all users have good coverage and good access," she said.

"We want to see, in Victoria's second biggest regional city after Geelong, that you could have a different server, you could have a different provider, and you'll still get good coverage.

"Telstra do a great job and it's great to see Optus really competitive in this space as well. Regardless of who your server is, we want to make sure that you've got good coverage."

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Ms Chesters said the upgrade to technology in the CBD could also benefit residents further out of central Bendigo.

"It improves the coverage for everybody," she said.

The federal MP also said Fosterville Gold Mine's parent company was currently working with Telstra to improve coverage at its site east of Bendigo.

The federal government's mobile black spots program is under review.

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