FEDERAL and State members of parliament along with representatives of Vodaphone and Goldwind officially opened the state’s first mobile black spot tower at White Rock Wind Farm, near Glen Innes on Monday.
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The phone tower to be built on site at the wind farm should see an end to mobile service blackspots in the area between Glen Innes and Inverell.
Federal member for New England Barnaby Joyce heralded the announcement as a huge win for local mobile phone users.
“This mobile tower is important for personal security because I want people who are driving in the country, if they break down for example, to be able to use their mobile phones to seek assistance and this tower will help with that,” he said.
“With Vodaphone entering the market it will also provide real competition so consumers will be able to choose the carrier that supplies the best service for them.
Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall said the announcement is about increasing the amount of mobile phone reception in the region for residents and businesses.
“If we want our regional communities to grow and for businesses to invest we need to make it easier for them to do business and to go about their daily lives,” he said.
“Having a mobile phone with reception is nowadays almost akin to be able to breathe oxygen; it is a necessity in life.
“Many business use their mobile devices and tablets to not only make phone calls but to transfer data, to send emails and to look at things, so that is just as important, this announcement is about having the data transfer capacity as well.”
Managing Director of Goldwind Australia John Titchen said having the tower on site at the wind farm will have many benefits.
“By having the mobile tower at the wind farm it will provide phone reception across the site which will provide safety for our workers, but the other reason we pushed so hard for this was to distribute the benefit of the project amongst the community, and we’d like to do more in the future,” he said.
Business in Glen President Jim Ritchie said people traveling between Glen Innes and Inverell who have no coverage normally will now be able to have reception.
“It is good to see Goldwind and Vodaphone and the Federal and State governments make things a bit easier for regional people and businesses, “he said
“It shows what can happen when the likes of these people get together with a common goal.”
