Residents say the town already has fibre optic cabling installed at the school and this should be extended to houses.

The effects of emissions from the tower on people’s health, decreases in property values and views being ruined have been cited as among their concerns.

Resident Kaya Doll said internet connections improved two years ago when the government paid Telstra to lay fibre optic cables to schools.

“Each town should be looked at individually as to whether it is more suited to towers or fibre optic cable,” she said.

“Our tower will cost over $200,000, so why can’t this money be used to improve the fibre optic cable instead of installing new and substandard technology?”

Mrs Doll is also concerned with emissions from the tower being hotly disputed with the World Health Organisation, which classifies the radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans under category 2B carcinogen.

“This category includes DDT, lead, and engine exhaust,” she said.

Another resident Dorothy Jackson said she moved to the town 12 years ago when there was no talk of towers.

“I have a beautiful view from my veranda and if this goes ahead I will be directly looking at the tower emitting right across us,” she said.

Towong Council has five objections against the planning application, but 15 signatures in support; it will make a decision in coming months.

NBN Co spokesman Michael Moore said NBN and its delivery partners selected the proposed site as the best option based on planning requirements, the site’s ability to provide acceptable coverage to the area, construction feasibility and the ability to secure use of the land.

“While the application for our preferred site is before council, we remain committed to consulting with the community on any concerns and explaining why we believe this is the best site for the tower,” he said.

Mr Moore said the school’s fibre connection was not installed or owned by NBN under the NBN network rollout, which meant it was not an option.

“The Australian government expects the NBN network to be built in a cost-effective way using technology best matched to each area of Australia,” he said.

“Regardless of the technology solution used, homes and businesses should expect minimum download speeds of 25 megabytes per second, which is significantly faster than most people are receiving via ADSL.”

Bethanga farmer David Elder, who intends to host the tower on the fringe of his property, said he was doing it for the “good of the community”.

Mr Elder said the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency website stated that, based on research, there were no established health effects from the low level exposure to the radiofrequency electromagnetic energy from NBN base station antennas.

Meanwhile, there is also a proposal for a mobile phone tower to be erected at Bethanga under the mobile blackspot funding announced last week.

Telstra area general manager Steve Tinker said the location and planning approval would go to council at a future date.

An open town meeting will be held on July 23 at the Bethanga Memorial Hall.