Increasing mobile coverage
The Government funded Rural Broadband programme, run by Crown Infrastructure Partners to improve mobile connectivity across the Westland District is in its final stages, with the last remaining towers due to go live later this year.
With 25 Rural Connectivity Group towers already live, and nine more in progress, 99% of the Westland population will have mobile coverage from Jackson Bay to the surrounds of Otira and most of the State Highway and local roads in between with all three mobile services available. “Westland will now have one of the best mobile coverage statistics of regions or districts in NZ,” according to Graham Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer of Crown Infrastructure Partners.
This first tower in the second phase of the nationwide Mobile Blackspots programme on SH73 at Aickens, near Jacksons, has gone live. This part of the programme addresses State Highway coverage, and targets local roads, the ends of major trails, and communities that don’t already have mobile voice service.
