Australians who commute to work often complain about poor mobile connectivity. And lucky for them the Australian government is spending a chunk of the Budget to improve matters… but only along one specific train route.
The Federal Budget loves the Central Coast
If you frequently travel between Wyong on the NSW Central Coast and Hornsby, we have some good news for you. The Federal Budget is throwing $10 million at improving mobile and Wi-Fi connectivity along this deeply specific route.
Unfortunately we don’t have many details yet. Like, barely any.
“This program will establish mobile and internet connectivity along the train route between Hornsby and Wyong,” the Budget papers say.
However, we do know from the same papers that the government is spending more on this than a concept trial for a Public Safety Mobile Broadband response designed for natural disasters. Only $8 million is being thrown at this wider-scale project.
“The Australian Government is providing $8.0 million in 2020-21 to support the delivery of a proof of concept trial for a Public Safety Mobile Broadband (PSMB). The PSMB is an important part of Australia’s ability to prepare for and respond to natural disasters and emergencies at the national scale,” the budget papers say.
“A new measure associated with this funding agreement is listed in Table 1.4 and described in more detail in Budget Paper No. 2, Budget Measures 2020-21.”