Cell tower improves communication

Testing the cellphone reception at the new Telecom tower near Tapanui yesterday are, from left, Clutha district Mayor Bryan Cadogan, West Otago Community Board chairwoman Barbara Hanna, deputy chairman John Herbert, Clutha district councillor (West Otago Ward) Jeff McKenzie and Telecom Head of Community Relations Paul Leslie. They found the reception good at the new tower site. Photo by Helena de Reus.

Telecom's tower on Lookout Rd, near State Highway 90 on a hill above the township, became operational a few days ago and Vodafone has installed a tower on Captains Bridge Rd, near Tapanui which will be in service soon.

Clutha district councillor for the West Otago ward, and St John ambulance officer Michelle Kennedy said the lack of coverage had been a problem in the area for a long time, especially when people ran into trouble and needed to contact emergency services.

"We didn't even have reception on the main street. Our pagers are on the Telecom network and sometimes they didn't go off either. And when the Vodafone tower is up and running, then it will be win-win for everyone."

Cr Kennedy said the township would also be able to get ATM machines in the future, as cellphone tower coverage was needed to run them.

Fellow West Otago ward councillor Jeff McKenzie said the West Otago Community Board had initiated "years of lobbying" for cellphone coverage.

"It's been long, slow progress but we finally got there."

Telecom head of community relations Paul Leslie said the new site in Tapanui would make a significant difference to businesses and services relying on mobile communications.

"Two years does seem like a heck of a long time ... thank you for your patience."

Telecom had invested $650,000 installing the tower and upgrading sites in Clinton and Milton, he said. The new sites would provide a service identical to that in Dunedin, improving voice and text performance, as well as boosting mobile broadband speeds, enabling customers to do things like download documents or email or simply to check the weather report from their mobile phone, Mr Leslie said.

The Tapanui tower would provide XT network coverage to Tapanui township, the surrounding rural areas of northeast Southland and from Gore to Raes Junction, he said.

Vodafone external communications manager Matt East said the company was still awaiting transmission from its tower site back to the core network but expected the site to be live in the next few weeks.

The tower would provide excellent coverage for Tapanui, surrounding areas and State Highway 90, Mr East said.