Queensland councils are rethinking their high fees for Development Applications (DAs) following industry warnings that fees up to $20,000 for a telecommunications facility were jeopardising developments in the Sunshine State.

The Mobile Carriers Forum (MCF) recently wrote to Councils in South-east Queensland expressing concern that such high fees could force MCF member carriers - Telstra, Optus and Vodafone Hutchison Australia - to delay, defer or even abandon proposals designed to improve mobile coverage, call quality and network capacity in this area.

This week a number of councils have contacted the MCF and indicated their willingness to examine or renegotiate fees. In one instance, the Sunshine Coast Regional Council confirmed it will reduce fees for the remainder of 2009/10 from $20,210 to $6,966, representing a direct saving to carriers of $13,244 or 65% per site – a substantial decrease.

MCF Program Manager Matt Evans said: “ This is a very positive sign and shows that councils are aware of the positive benefits delivered to communities by mobile telecommunications networks.

“In response, Carriers are now taking a second look at sites in the Sunshine Coast region that had been placed on-hold. We expect they will soon be lodging DAs with Council under the new fee structure.”

The MCF will continue to renegotiate a “reasonable” fee with other Councils in line with other charges across Australia.