Residents near Lake Hume and the Kiewa Valley are finally feeling “human” – they can now freely use their phones at home like most other people.
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New phone towers switched on in recent months have provided 4GX technology from Bethanga in the north, down to Gundowring in the south.
Tangambalanga Hotel licencee Kaylene Thomas lives three kilometres out of town, where she had not been able to get mobile reception.
“People take it for granted who have the coverage all the time,” she said.
“I’d go home and switch my mobile off or put it on the window sill where I’d get one bar and be lucky if I could make a phone call, but now I get three bars and can walk around the house.
“It’s a big difference and it’s a security thing as well.”
Indi MP Cathy McGowan visited Tangambalanga and Bethanga yesterday to celebrate the tower being switched on, saying it was a great day for the region.
“It’s my job to get the infrastructure in, then it’s businesses’ opportunity to really make do with that,” she said.
“This is our first mobile phone tower for Indigo and we hope there’s lots more because we know we’ve got the blackspots.”
She called on the federal government to continue its mobile blackspot program with more funding.
“We’ve still got a lot of communities that don’t have coverage,” Ms McGowan said.
The Tangambalanga tower will also give residents access to broadband internet, rather than just the slow satellite technology, and the Bethanga tower will provide both high-speed mobile and NBN connections.
Telstra area general manager Loretta Willaton said the 4GX was the top technology available.
“It improves the major transport route and also the homes that receive coverage in the area,” she said.
“The great benefit for the community also is that people can access high-speed broadband.
“In some cases the community, towards where the tower is, are only on satellite services at the moment so it opens up new opportunities.”