300th cell tower goes live: At Coroglen

The new cell tower at Coroglen is the 300th rolled out by the Rural Connectivity Group. Photo / Supplied.

Coroglen residents are the latest to get rural broadband coverage as the 27th tower in the Waikato was switched on.

A neighbouring tower at Kaimarama also went live, giving 160 households in the district access to 4G wireless broadband and 4G mobile services from Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees.

It was the 300th tower to go live. There are now 27 operational RCG sites in the Waikato - a number due to double in the region by the end of the programme in December 2023.

High-speed 4G wireless broadband and improved cell coverage is available to more than 2700 homes and businesses and 50km of local state highway, five tourism hotspots, previously with poor or no network connectivity across the Thames Coromandel, Hauraki, Waikato, South Waikato, Waipa, Otorohanga and Taupo council areas.

The Coroglen and Kaimarama sites were the first sites to go live in the Thames Coromandel district.

"We've a substantial build programme across the Coromandel with 9 sites of the 58 cell sites located in the Waikato Region, being built across the Peninsula. The second site in our Coromandel network, located at Kaimarama, went live last week and we also have sites at Little Bay, Otama Beach and Kennedy Bay under construction.

"Livening this site marks a significant point in the RCG journey, including for our suppliers and contractors who have all contributed to our network of 300 live sites.

The RCG is a joint venture between Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees, and has been contracted by CIP to deliver the Government's Rural Broadband Initiative Phase 2 (RBI2) and Mobile Black Spots Fund (MBSF) programmes.

"We are very aware what this means to Coroglen locals and how eager they are for services to be delivered via our network. We are very grateful to Ross and Alan Upton for realising the benefits of this site for their local community and working with us to get this new facility built to provide services to Coroglen."

Local farmer and landowner of the Coroglen site location, Ross Upton, said, "Gaining fast broadband and mobile services is a huge boost to our family run farming business. We have two families directly involved in our farming operation and gaining reliable broadband and mobile services will be hugely helpful in sharing business information, making informed decisions for the business, and keeping in touch whilst out on the farm."

The group say the RCG network is allowing rural people to make a choice about working and schooling from home, among other options.

Eric and Sandra Gaskill, owners of Fun Zone Whitianga, also assisted RCG in providing access for the second livened site on the Coromandel to provide coverage to Kaimarama.

"The new connectivity is critically important to our district and the operation of our adventure park will be enhanced by mobile eftpos payments, a reliable online booking system, staff management and our health and safety operations," says Eric.