Rural Northland cell towers vandalised, communities left at risk

Rural cell towers at Pawarenga, Te Paki and Te Hāpua have been vandalised, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair. Photo / FNDC

Repeated attacks on rural cell towers in Northland are not just causing costly damage, they are cutting lifelines to isolated communities that depend on the coverage.

More than 25 incidents of vandalism across 15 rural cell sites have been reported, prompting warnings that lives could be put in danger as communities rely on it in medical and other emergencies.

Since 2017, the Rural Connectivity Group (RCG) has installed 570 mobile cell sites in rural areas throughout the country. Of those, 57 are in Northland, providing voice, data, text and wireless broadband services to communities where services were previously limited or non-existent.

More than one million calls, including critical emergency 111 calls, are being made in Northland each month via the sites.

Despite the huge social and economic benefits, critical cell site equipment is regularly being vandalised and stolen, cutting remote communities off from emergency and other services that they have come to rely on.

RCG chief executive Ian Hooker told the Northland Age they have had over 25 instances of vandalism across 15 sites in Northland and the Far North.

“In the worst case-scenario, a cell tower could be out of service for several days until the issue is resolved. Even once it is restored, the site would still be vulnerable during a power outage and could cease functioning again if the underlying problem is not fully addressed.”

He said replacing the damaged equipment was costing hundreds of thousands of dollars – money earmarked for new cell sites for other isolated communities.

The most recent incident was on Christmas Day.

“At best, losing access to phone and broadband services would be a major inconvenience, disrupting everyday tasks such as working from home or accessing online banking. Connectivity is something we often take for granted. At worst, the loss of coverage can result in a life-or-death situation because of people being unable to call 111 to seek help in an emergency.”

He said to those involved in damaging the sites he would say, “You’re placing entire communities’ lives at risk by disabling their connectivity, including yourself and your own family and friends.”

For Pawarenga residents, the cell tower has meant the difference between isolation and connection.

Resident Anahera Herbert-Graves said they are grateful for the tower, which was installed around 2022.

“It’s accelerated the sense of powerfulness, of being able to do for ourselves as much as possible.

“It has lifted the morale of the people. We are able to do things like telephone consults for health reasons, get in touch with our emergency services quickly, do our banking, keep in touch with our whānau, spread the word about the good things that are happening, it has actually kind of been like jet fuel to positivity.”

Before the installation, residents would have to drive into town for banking and other services; for emergencies, landlines were used but not everyone had those, she said.

She said she has heard of incidents of vandalism and believes that some damaged the towers for the solar batteries, thinking they will be able to get use out of them.

In collaboration with the RCG, Far North District Council has created a video series where residents explain how their remote communities benefit from being able to connect to mobile providers.

One video a week will be released over the next six weeks on the council’s Facebook page. Each video will be added to this news story once it is released.

Anyone witnessing suspicious behaviour near a remote cell site should report it to RCG via its website or by calling 0800 724 2255.