DUBBO residents have been urged to nominate mobile phone black spots in their area, as the deadline for government funding to fix poor coverage approaches.
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Round two of the Mobile Black Spots Program will close on January 15, with the federal government committing $60 million to improve coverage in areas reported to have poor or no mobile coverage.
Parkes MP Mark Coulton said the more nominations the government received, the more likely it would be for a black spot to be fixed.
"I would encourage people to put in their nominations because the more nominations for the one particular spot the better the case is for putting a tower up in that area," he said.
Mr Coulton said mobile black spots throughout north and western NSW were putting people at risk on the region's roads.
"The further west you go, the greater the chance of there being no coverage," Mr Coulton said.
"The main thing is to get the main roads and highways covered.
"Wanaaring is a village 200 kilometres west of Bourke and the locals there have been calling for a tower for ages - they believe there are safety issues there and there's quite a few tourists coming through the town as well."
Other areas of concern included the Mitchell Highway as it passed through Nevertire, as well as the grain-growing region of Yellow Mountain, north of Condobolin.
Mr Coulton feared the lack of mobile coverage was putting the region's businesses, particularly large farming enterprises, at a disadvantage.
"A lot of these businesses are multimillion-dollar grain and stock concerns [and] if they don't have the same phone services as other people then they are at a disadvantage," Mr Coulton said.
"A lot of machinery servicing is done now by plugging an iPad into the machine and getting the diagnostics that way.
"If you don't have coverage then that's not going to work."
Visit www.communications.gov.au/ blackspots to nominate a mobile black spot by January 15.