The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association will be well represented at next weekend’s New South Wales Local Government Association Conference in Broken Hill.

MobileMuster and the Mobile Carriers Forum will join over 600 delegates from NSW councils when they meet at the 2008 NSW Local Government Association Conference in Broken Hill on October 26-29.This year’s Conference will again provide a significant opportunity for the mobile telecommunications industry to showcase its credentials and engage directly with local decision makers.

MCF Program Manager Matt Evans said local Councils are an important stakeholder in the process of deploying mobile telecommunications networks. The Mobile Carriers Forum, a division of AMTA, will disseminate information at the Conference to assist in the local government sector’s understanding of how it could contribute to decisions about where mobile telecommunications network base stations are deployed.

There are significant opportunities for Councils to get involved. “Mobile network carriers are continually seeking ways to further improve their community consultation practices by working with local Councils to identify community sensitive areas and to improve consultation practices” he said.

“We’ll particularly be encouraging those Councillors who were just elected at last month’s NSW Council Elections to find out more about the benefits of mobile networks and how this technology is transforming the way their communities interact”.

Concern at local government level in relation to mobile infrastructure deployment is not a strong theme on this years’ Conference agenda. However, the MCF is keen to address elected representatives’ concerns regarding planning processes and some uncertainty on basic health and safety issues.

Mobilemuster will also have a presence at the conference alongside MCF with a particular focus on encouraging local councils to promote mobile phone recycling to residents, to run local recycling drives, to consider incorporating mobile phones in their kerbside collection systems and to encourage them to nominate for the MobileMuster Local Government Awards, which will be presented at the ALGA’s Special National General Assembly to be held in Melbourne from 8-11 December.