More than 30 mobile phone hotspots, developed by an Aboriginal organisation in Alice Springs, will be set up in remote locations in Central Australia.

More than half a million dollars of government funding has been allocated to the Centre of Appropriate Technology (CAT) to manufacture and install 32 hotspots in locations that have little or no mobile phone coverage.

The hotspots, or mobile signal amplifiers, were designed and developed by CAT, an Aboriginal organisation in Alice Springs that uses appropriate technology to give Indigenous people in remote areas better access to services.

The Northern Territory Government has provided $360,000 for 22 of the hotspots with the remainder being funded by a $185,000 grant from the federally administered Aboriginals Benefit Account (ABA).

The design, successfully trialled in two locations near the remote community of Hermannsburg, about 130 kilometres south-west of Alice Springs, uses a satellite dish to amplify the signal from nearby mobile phone towers.

"Instead of pointing up to the sky, the satellite dish actually points to the nearest mobile tower," CAT's senior telecommunications engineer Andrew Crouch said.

"It acts as an amplifier for the signal, so in a situation where there's a very weak signal ... we can make that signal reliable for any user of our hotspot."

The unit does not require power and has no moving parts or electronics.

CAT engineer Andrew Crouch, fabricator Aaron Burdett and workshop manager Peter Gleeson with the custom-built survey trailer, which will be used to pick locations for the hotspots. ( ABC Alice Springs: Emma Sleath )

"It follows our general philosophy of keeping things robust, simple and appropriate for outback use," Mr Crouch said.

"It's [also] pretty cheap if you compare it to getting a full mobile tower, in very round figures a mobile tower might cost you $800,000."

Locations for the hotspots have yet to be decided but will likely include Aboriginal outstations and communities, as well as overnight roadside areas and tourist attractions along the Stuart Highway from the South Australian border to Tennant Creek.

"There are a lot of gaps in coverage at the moment, some as much as 200 kilometres, so we'll be trying to narrow those gaps," Mr Crouch said.

The project will provide employment for CAT's Indigenous staff, who will be involved in the fabrication and installation of the units as well as initial surveying.

For 10 of the hotspots, Aboriginal people living near the chosen locations will be temporarily employed to help with the installation.

Positive feedback received from hotspot trial

In March this year, two trial hotspots were placed along the Boggy Hole access track to the Finke Gorge National Park, about 138 kilometres west of Alice Springs.

An overseas tourist who got bogged left a thank you note in the visitor book at one of the trial mobile hotspots. ( Supplied: Centre for Appropriate Technology )

Traditional owners who lived at a nearby outstation used their rent income from the Finke Gorge National Park to fund the trial, saying it would improve visitor safety.

One hotspot was placed at the outstation and one was put on top of a small hill near the track.

Mr Crouch said both appeared to be working well.

"Since we put the one next to the Boggy Hole track a vehicle track has appeared between the track and the hotspot, which is about 50 metres away on the top of a little sand hill, so it seems like it's being used quite a lot," he said.