Despite campaigning for years, living off the mobile grid is a daily obstacle for Murringo residents.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Over that time, they have heard countless promises and potential solutions that have never come to fruition.
So for Murringo Community Association treasurer Tricia Mack, her reaction to federal communications minister Malcolm Turnbull’s announcement on Friday that NBN towers were to be built in the village, was one of cautious optimism.
“We’ve got to be hopeful, we’ve heard so much of it before,” she said.
“Until we can actually see them go up, we’re not going to be too excited.”
While NBN towers will not directly overcome mobile blackspots, federal member for Hume Angus Taylor said the aim was to co-locate mobile phone base stations on the broadband towers.
Tricia said living without a mobile connection was one of the biggest concerns facing locals.
“If anything happened to someone out on the properties, we’d have to make to a landline. It just wouldn’t happen in town.”
She said they just wanted to be able to access the same basic services as everyone else.
“I made an appointment with optometrist the other day, she said ill text you, I told her to save your money because I won’t get it,” Tricia said.
These concerns were echoed by local advocate Frank Baker.
He said not having access to a mobile network not only affected business but was a concern during bushfire season.
He also wasn’t convinced the announcement brought them much closer to getting mobile coverage.
“We’ve heard very conflicting reports... when it happens I’ll believe it,” he said.
“Some have said it won’t be connected because the construction of the tower has to be heavier.”
When announcing the construction of the towers, Mr Turnbull said the fixed wireless broadband base would cover 129 premises.
This is on top of three towers due to become active between now and the end of the year at Monteagle, one east of Young and another to the west of the town.
“So all told, among those four towers, there’s nearly 1000 premises covered with fixed wireless,” he said.
Angus Taylor said he had strongly advocated for Murringo and was pleased the minister had taken an interest in the issue facing residents.
“The community of Murringo has spoken up persistently and I have been taking that message to the Minister,” Mr Taylor said.
“I have been pushing hard for our fair share of funding under the NBN rollout. This announcement is a strong message of support for our regional communities.
“We will put the case that an NBN tower at Murringo can also be used to co-locate infrastructure for mobile telephone reception. This is an outstanding result.”
Mr Taylor encouraged also encourage all residents of Young to visit the NBN Co website http://www.nbnco.com.au/ which had been updated today to show NBN tower sites currently under construction across Hume and the dates when residents would be able to access the broadband network.
