Keeping Community Connected

With more than $6b spent on improving Optus’ mobile network around Australia in recent years, the perception that Optus’ coverage is inferior is as outdated as the telephone dial. Here, we talk to Optus Territory General Manager Dave Morrissey about Optus’ improved coverage, investment in the north, and the importance of supporting community.

Optus’ coverage has been a key focus area in recent years. How has this improved up here in the North?

North Queensland has received a significant chunk of Optus’ $6b investment into its mobile network around Australia over the past four years. Locally, we’ve welcomed more than 50 new mobile towers in North Queensland since 2015. Mobile network coverage in the North has been improved by new towers in areas like Clifton Beach, Alice River, Bohle Plains, Black River, and out west with 16 towers between Charters Towers and Mt Isa which has improved mobile coverage for places like Hughenden, Richmond and Cloncurry. 

We still have plenty of more towers to go between now and the end of March 2020 (the end of our financial year), with another six towers scheduled for North Queensland before then. However, our mobile network will continue to grow and develop, and our investment into the network will be ongoing.

Optus has more happening in the region than just improved mobile coverage. Tell us about your community involvement?

Over the past three or four years, we’ve really built our community engagement program. We sponsor the Northern Beaches Suns AFL Club, the Townsville Triathlon Festival, North Queensland Football and the 2018 T20 cricket competition. We do a lot of work with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) under the Optus Charity Mobile Program, and we also do smaller, more localised community events too, like a recent movie night we supported at Belgian Gardens State School where we donated a movie track and got the movie rights for the P&C to play. Funds raised went to help Townsville’s turtle hospital. 

What do you look for in events or organisations when supporting community?

We look for events that are well-aligned with Optus. Organisations like North Queensland Football, which operates junior soccer in Townsville, aligns to Optus sport as we host the streaming rights for the English premier league and we did the women’s world cup. The kids that play football up here are the next generation of football fans, so we want to make sure we’re supporting them.

Your community support goes beyond events and sponsorships; you were involved in supporting the community during the Townsville floods earlier this year too.

That’s right. I sit on the Local Disaster Management Group Committee as an advisory member. During the floods, the cell tower at Bluewater was damaged, and we identified that residents who were at the evacuation would require mobile coverage to keep in contact with loved ones. We were able to coordinate the delivery of a cell tower on wheels out to Bluewater so the evacuation centre had Optus coverage.