MOBILE phone coverage at Roseworthy and Kangaroo Flat is set to be boosted by a new $600,000 mobile phone tower.

Primary industries and regions minister Tim Whetstone and Member for Schubert Stephan Knoll announced last week the University of Adelaide Roseworthy campus would be the site for the new tower.

The State Government has partnered with Telstra to install the tower, which was not eligible for the Federal Government Mobile Black Spot Program, as the phone reception in the area was not inadequate enough to meet funding criteria.

While Telstra engineers are still working on the exact coverage area of the new tower, it is expected to encompass the entire campus area and Kangaroo Flat, to the west.

It will be installed at the corner of College and Mudla Wirra roads, and will eventually be able to transmit a 5G signal.

Mr Whetstone said the tower would bring the region “into the 21st century”.

“It’s a great outcome for the campus and the greater Roseworthy (area),” he said.

“It makes liveability. I think liveability is what people are calling out for and I think COVID-19 is a working example of connectivity and how it important it is to how we do business and our safety.

“Having mobile phone capability is exactly what this part of the world has been calling out for.”

Mr Knoll added black spot mobile phone towers and roads were of high importance to regional South Australia.

“I’ve been stuck here when things get quite grey (mobile phone reception is unavailable) here at Roseworthy campus, so I know this is going to be massive for the broader region and this as an education institution,” he said.

The new tower is set to be a boost for the Country Fire Service’s regional command centre based at the campus.

Region two commander Garth Hogarth said any improvements to country mobile phone coverage is a win for local emergency services.

“Any additional support we can get in terms of connectivity to our people in the area, as well as us functioning as a regional coordination centre on extreme fire weather days, is helpful,” he said.

“It makes it safer for our people and the people being affected in these emergencies they’re notifying us of.”

Roseworthy campus dean Wayne Hein said it is likely more learning will take place online in the future, which made consistent online connectivity more important.

“This campus is now host to around 1000 people if you count all of the students and all of the staff,” he said.

“This is a very important centre for emergency contingency planning. It plays a number of important roles, such as in a recent bushfire five years ago (the 2015 Pinery fires).

“In conjunction with PIRSA (Primary Industries and Regions South Australia) this is a really important node in the event we may get an exotic animal disease in South Australia.”