Vodafone rolls out mobile black spot program as 4G network approaches 23 million

There's not much worse than a black spot when it comes to mobile phone coverage (except, maybe, a complete network failure).

So Vodafone's announcement today that it is rolling out the first stage of its mobile black spot program is good news.

The program will begin with 70 locations that are notorious black spots for the network, across New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania and Victoria.

All 70 sites are due for completion by the end of 2017, which should help dramatically improve overall coverage for the network.

Speaking of coverage, Vodafone was also keen to express its success with 4G coverage, claiming that its LTE network now reaches almost 23 million Australians around the country.

To achieve this feat, the network's entire 850MHz spectrum has been upgraded to 4G, which couples nicely with the 1800MHz spectrum in cities for coverage both indoors and outdoors.

This has also allowed the telco to begin rolling out Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology in major metropolitan areas for users of compatible handsets.

• Who's got the best 4G network?