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Only one of two essential telecommunications towers identified as critical for improving 000 coverage along Bells Line Road from Kurrajong Heights to Mt Wilson districts has been delivered. Funding for the second tower was handed back by Hawkesbury Council in what community members allege is an act of incompetence that endangers residents and travellers across the region.
The first tower, funded under the Federal Government’s Mobile Black Spot Program, has been constructed and provides partial mobile coverage across the Bells Line of Road corridor. Blue Mountains City Council approved the DA and provided the land for the base station, next to the RFS shed in Rainbow Ravine Rd.
However, a second tower at Berambing funded separately under the Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grants Program and the responsibility of Hawkesbury Council has not been built. A similar bushfire recovery-funded tower proposed for Upper Macdonald Valley also remains unconstructed.
Community advocates say the two-tower model was designed to provide full coverage across the mountainous terrain covering six village settlements. Without the second tower, coverage remains incomplete and this has been confirmed by a survey conducted by the Mt Tomah Berambing Association Inc.
The grant allocated to Hawkesbury Council for the Berambing site expired on 31 March 2025. Development approval for the tower was given in April 2025 a couple of weeks after it handed back the funding.
The impacted communities learnt of the bungle in October 2025 after Telstra informed them that Hawkesbury Council had returned the grant to build the tower.
Local community groups, including representatives from the Mt Tomah and Berambing Community Association Inc and the Bells Line of Road Business Council Inc, expressed outrage, alleging the bungle denied communities an essential 000 service.
They argue that reliable mobile coverage is not simply a convenience issue, but a critical safety measure.
The Secretary of the Mt Tomah and Berambing Community Association, Mark McDonnell, told the Gazette: “Our Association’s detailed mobile coverage survey was taken after the Mt Tomah service started in December.
The survey covered the area from Mountain Lagoon to Mt Wilson and was undertaken over three consecutive days involving 5 members of our Association. It was a rigorous study using a meticulous methodology. The results show many areas where there is either no useable signal or a weak and unreliable signal.
"We sent the report to Telstra’s CEO, Vicki Brady, and asked her to task her wireless engineers to modify the Tomah facility so as improve coverage, and to proceed with the badly needed second base station at Berambing, but they have taken no heed of these requests and assert, without any evidence at all, that coverage is adequate. We have substantial evidence to show it is not.”
Hawkesbury City Council has not publicly released information explaining why development approvals were not finalised before the grant expiry date, nor has it apologised to the impacted communities for this failure, but it has said it will attempt to get the funding reinstated.
The residents remain incensed, claiming that if Council and or Ms Templeman MP had acted immediately upon becoming aware that the funding timeline for project delivery had expired, it would have improved the chance of this occurring.
Questions remain: Why weren’t grant timelines adequately monitored? What steps are being taken to secure replacement funding? Who bears responsibility for the lapse?
The situation leaves communities without the full communications upgrades announced following the 2019–2020 Black Summer fires.
Where to from here
So far Council and Ms Templeman MP have been unsuccessful in getting the funding restored and now Telstra are claiming that one tower provides adequate coverage. The Mt Tomah Berambing Community Association has commenced action with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), seeking a full investigation of Telstra’s conduct as an instance of misleading and deceptive conduct that warrants remedial action.
The Association is also engaging with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which currently has a public consultation underway into a Standard for mobile coverage mapping, to ensure it is accurate and reliable.
Questions have been asked of Hawkesbury City Council and Ms Templeman MP. Todate only Ms Templeman has responded.
Council approached me on the eve of the May Federal election to advise that the Black Summer Bushfire Recovery grant funding agreement for Berambing mobile tower expired 31 March and that the project would not be completed in time.
I was disappointed that Council and Telstra had not been able to complete the project in the timeframe required under the funding program.
I made representations to the Minister seeking solutions and I look forward to providing an update when one is available.
The Gazette will follow this story.
Please find below more comments made by Susan Templeman MP on 27/2/26:
"As a direct result of my advocacy, the project was resurrected when the Minister was able to secure a special grant round that opened in December 2025. Council applied for funding under that program and I understand the application remains under assessment, with Council, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and NSW Reconstruction Authority awaiting Telstra’s decision on whether it will proceed with the Berambing tower."
"I am very disappointed with Telstra's reconsideration about the need for the Berambing tower and I have expressed that to Telstra directly."
"I acknowledge that coverage for many people in this area has improved significantly thanks to the new Mount Tomah tower, particularly following Telstra's optimisation work in mid-January. However, there remain mobile blackspots that I would have expected to be addressed by the planned Berambing tower. I do not believe this is as good as it can get. I am particularly concerned about the resilience and redundancy of the current mobile system given the bushfire and storm-prone nature of our community."
"Remember, the Black Summer grant was aimed at addressing communication failures caused by terrain and power issues during emergency events like the 2019-20 fires. As always, I will continue advocating for the best possible mobile coverage for our communities."
