Optus has announced an investment of $25 million to triple their mobile network coverage across Tasmania. When the upgrade is complete, there will be over 100 Optus base stations across the state.

The upgrade will see at least 45 towns that will for the first time have an option other than using Telstra’s Next G network.

“With this significant expansion, we will be the only mobile carrier capable of challenging the incumbent’s network reach in Tasmania,” said Optus Networks managing director Gunther Ottendorfer.

The new infrastructure will see about 96 percent of the state having access to the Optus Open Network.

“The extent of the investment and the ability to meet customer expectations has provided the Tasmanian Government with the confidence in choosing Optus for mobile and mobile data services,” added Ottendorfer.

“As more content rich applications start to become a part of customers lives, this investment will greatly expand this State's access to these next generation data services. With products such as the recently launched Optus Smart Safe helping people get more out of their mobile device, these applications will become the life blood of smartphones, laptops, tablets and business devices, and our network is paramount to enabling access to these technologies.”

Telstra also announced weeks ago that they would be upgrading their Next G network across the state. Telstra Country Wide general manager for Northern Tasmania Michael Patterson said: “We have a rollout schedule of new towers across the state of Tasmania, to ensure we maintain that coverage gap,” he said, revealing that the telco was investing “something like $3 million a week” in infrastructure in Tasmania.