The National Audit of Mobile Coverage is a component of the Government’s Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia.
The audit aims to better identify mobile coverage black spots across Australia to help target future investment, and to provide an independent resource that better reflects on ground experiences of mobile coverage.
Work on the audit has started, with the release of crowd-sourced data on mobile coverage from 150,000 active users Australia-wide. This data was collected by Accenture Australia who has been contracted to undertake the Audit.
A pilot audit is now beginning, which includes testing in 3 locations and drive testing of 3 roads in each state and territory. This will be followed by a main audit, testing around 180,000 km of regional and rural roads every year for three years.
Under the main audit, Accenture will also place mobile detection devices in up to 77 towns across all states and territories to get a more detailed understanding of changes to coverage, particularly in areas with seasonal population changes.
Data collected through drive-testing and in static locations will be released in phases as pilot and main audit data becomes available.
