Caption: (from left) Cr Geraldine Conheady, Lynn Patzel, Shane Quick, Deputy Mayor Laurie Hickey, Cr Nick Cole and Cr Jo Beard, with existing communications towers on Mt Noorat in the background.
Amid concerns about severe bushfire conditions, the Noorat community is calling on Telstra to follow through on its commitment to upgrade its mobile tower on the Mount.
Telstra received funding for a new telecommunications tower from the Federal Government's Regional Connectivity Program in 2022.
It said a new macro mobile base station and transmission connectivity would provide improved 4G/5G mobile voice and data coverage for residents and visitors to the area.
Town resident Lynn Patzel said all 16 attendees at a recent Noorat Residents Association meeting had issues of some sort with their mobile coverage.
"This has been going on for a long time. I changed providers from Optus to Telstra and the service got worse, not better.
"Frequently phone calls drop out and you have to call back. I call at night when it's quiet.
Ms Patzel has particular concerns for older people.
She mentions one man who has to cross the road from his house to make a call and asked what he could do if he fell and needed help.
"Many of the personal alarms have mobile numbers on them now.
"We have families who need to use the internet for school; working from home is difficult."
Shane Quick, of Glenormiston, asked why the tower wasn't up when Telstra had had funding for two years.
"It's the inconsistency of service that's frustrating. Shifting position around the house to talk to people
"Using the internet, you have to be enormously patient because it's so slow, or try again later.
"With the reliance for business banking and your day to day activities – it takes a lot of time. It's frustrating when you know other people are getting it instantly.
The local exchange doesn't have fibre. People are looking at Starlink because the reliability is better."
When the funding for the new tower was announced, Lake Keilambete Ward Councillor and Noorat resident Geraldine Conheady said the announcement was great news for the town and surrounding community.
"Communication failures during the 2018 bushfires underline just how vital this upgrade is for the safety of our people and property," Cr Conheady said.
"The poor coverage around Noorat has also held back agribusiness productivity and innovation in the area.
This week Cr Conheady said another hot, dry summer had raised the spectre of more bushfires with no improvement in emergency communications.
"From the beginning we were told the new tower would go on top of Mt Noorat, next to the existing towers. Rumours are circulating that Telstra is considering a new location.
"The community and Council are concerned that this is not in line with what we were promised.
"The expectation was that locating the tower on top of the Mount was to service areas currently with poor or no service, especially on the northern side of the Mount.
"Council and the community are concerned locating on any other site will result in an inferior service.
"It's two years since the announcement and still we've seen no action.
"We call on Telstra to honour its commitment. This is an important investment for community safety that should not be delayed any longer, or fast-tracked to a lower standard."
Council has written to Telstra urging the company to proceed with the original plan to site the tower on Mount Noorat.
