Northern Tablelands MP, Adam Marshall, who cut the ribbon, said: “It’s a big deal because any time that we are building new phone towers is a darn good thing.

“But this is doubly good in that the emergency services have really been wanting a tower to be built.”

Ambulance and fire crews should now have easier communciation in emergencies in that region between Inverell and Glen Innes (where the wind farms are).

The tower between Glen Innes and Inverell fills in a ‘black hole’ in coverage. 

Mr Marshall said this tower was jointly funded by the state and Commonwealth governments, with NSW putting in $50 million for the whole set of towers.

He said another 13 were planned in the Northern Tablelands.

The government said it had “committed $220 million to the Mobile Black Spot Program to invest in telecommunications infrastructure to improve mobile coverage along major regional transport routes, in small communities and in a number of identified priority locations”.

Deputy Prime Minister and Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, also welcomed what he called “a significant milestone in regional communications”.

He said that the Coalition Government’s $220 million Mobile Black Spot Program had delivered its 50th Telstra mobile base station in NSW.

“I travel this electorate a lot, so I know how much good mobile coverage means to rural and regional communities in the New England,” Mr Joyce said.

“Whether that’s for home business, farmers out in the paddock or motorists on local roads, we all want and deserve the best mobile service available. With this new infrastructure at Kings Plains, the Coalition Government is helping to provide that to residents here in our region.

“Under the Mobile Black Spot Program, 33 new and upgraded mobile base stations are being deployed in the New England electorate and to date, 10 base stations have been completed.”