Queensland councils are ramping up their campaign to fix poor internet and mobile phone coverage in rural areas.

Councils at the recent Local Government Association of Queensland Annual Conference in Toowoomba voted to lobby the State and Federal governments and the National Broadband Network (NBN) to address the high number of blackspots in their regions.

The LGAQ will also lobby the Commonwealth to accelerate the rollout of the Mobile Blackspots Program, asking for the timeframe for the construction of new telecommunication towers to be reduced from three years to one.

Residents in rural areas frequently complain their internet service is too slow, drops out regularly, does not connect or reduces or stops once monthly limits are reached.

Mayors and councillors of rural shires and regions said the “deplorable” service needed to be fixed urgently to improve communications during emergencies, boost the efficiency of farms, mining projects and other businesses, assist remote school or university students and ensure hospitals and clinics can provide services such as tele-health for remote clients.

Quality telecommunications would vastly improve the financial, social and mental welfare of residents living in the 80 per cent of the state that is drought-stricken, councils said.