Member for Hume Mr. Angus Taylor announced the good news this week, commenting: “This is a great result – amongst the highest allocation for any electorate in Australia.

“We have lobbied long and hard for this – and the Australian Government has listened.”

Two of the towers will be at Dalton and Golspie.

Mr. Taylor said the construction of the towers would mean coverage will extend along a number of roads and highway sections currently without service.

Included in these will be:

 # Crookwell – Goulburn Road;

 # Range Road, between Bannister and Mummel;

 # Crookwell – Binda – Trunkey Creek on the Crookwell – Bathurst Road;

 # Goulburn – Taralga – Oberon Road;

Eventually, 74 of the 139 nominated “black spots” in Hume will receive coverage via hand held phones or external antenna on the roof of the car, or both.

Mr. Taylor said total funding for Hume is $10.41 million, including $2.76 million from the Federal Government’s Black Spot Program.

The 18 new towers will be erected by the end of this year, and the full program rolled out over three years.

In the Upper Lachlan region, the areas that will benefit from the first “tranche” of towers will include Bannister, Big Hill, Dalton, Fullerton, Golspie, Grabine, Laggan, Limerick, Lost River, Peelwood, Roslyn, Taralga, Wheeo and Wyangala.