Better telco coverage after WA fires: PM

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has pledged to improve telecommunications services in Western Australia's south after devastating bushfires in the Esperance region killed four people.

Speaking from the coastal town on Wednesday, Mr Turnbull said "everyone in Australia" would eventually be able to get mobile coverage through the new NBN satellite service, which will become available from April but will take some time to fully roll out.

While there would be increased phone connectivity in the region through the first round of the previously announced mobile blackspots program, with the electorate set to receive almost $54 million, the second round should consider more battery support in phone towers in bushfire-prone areas, Mr Turnbull said.

He said he would discuss installing longer life batteries in towers with Telstra.

"We just have to keep on improving the technology," Mr Turnbull told reporters.

"We're obviously committed to getting those services available as soon as possible whether it's on the terrestrial side with the mobile phone towers or on the satellite side, so communications will improve.

"But at the end of the day, Australia in summer can be a very dangerous place. Bushfires are part of our environment.

"Battery life is a very big issue but of course if the tower itself gets knocked out, then no amount of better batteries will help you."

Local farmer Mick Fels said news from authorities during the bushfire was stale as it relied on information from people on the ground who were hamstrung by technology failings.

"Everybody was trying to use their phones as much as they could and using social media, and all these things use bandwidth and these towers don't have much capacity," Mr Fels told ABC radio.

"So even in our area where we didn't have the black out because we were east of town and had phone towers still up, they weren't functioning. Nobody could communicate with anybody.

"Two-way radios were our salvation."