RCG liven permanent cell site at Haast
12 October 2021
The Rural Connectivity Group (RCG) has livened its permanent cell site in the Haast township to deliver 4G wireless broadband and voice calling services to the community, road users, and visitors to the area.
The new site, funded under the Government’s Rural Broadband Initiative Phase 2 programme (RBI2) and Mobile Black Spot Funds (MBSF), sits on Council land off Mark Road in Haast township. Access to reliable 4G wireless broadband is available to 90 local homes and businesses and 15km of State Highway 6, and the local tourism activities with access to voice calling services.
RCG’s Haast site joins eleven sites already live in the Westland District located at Tatare, Ruatapu, Lake Wahapo, Ōkārito Lagoon, Pukekura, Kokatahi, Fox West, Karangarua, Oneone, Bruce Bay, and Okuru.
RCG’s build programme in the Westland District is substantial with over 25 sites planned for the area. The sites will deliver reliable and robust connectivity to over 900 homes and businesses, around 120 KM of road coverage, and 19 Tourist locations.
“Our build programme along the West Coast has been a priority for us, even with the rugged terrain presenting many challenges for us to overcome. The temporary facility in Haast has now been replaced by a permanent facility which has Chorus fibre backhaul into the national telecommunications network, this means services into Haast will be more reliable and less weather-dependent” says RCG CEO, John Proctor.
The RCG cell sites are running the latest 4G technology and services will be available to customers of Spark, Vodafone, 2degrees, and their wholesale resellers. 4G Voice calling is still available to those using an older generation mobile phone via internet-enabled applications such as WhatsApp, Viber, Facetime or Facebook Messenger but draw on a user’s data plan with their provider instead of calling minutes, meaning that some people might prefer to upgrade to a newer phone to enable 4G voice calling. Information is available on the websites for each company and anyone unsure if their device can receive and make calls over the 4G network should contact their service provider.
Photo credit: RCG
