Spark adds coverage to rural Maruia on alternate road

Wednesday, 21 December 2016, 1:49 pm
Press Release: Spark NZ

Spark adds coverage to rural Maruia on alternate road to East Coast post-quake

Spark has recently switched on a metro cell site in the community of Maruia, bringing much needed mobile coverage to the rural community, as increased road traffic passes through the area, following the closure of State Highway 1 last month.

Maruia is located on State Highway 65, which is now the alternative route between Picton and Christchurch, as NZTA continue to clear a path along the east coast highway to Kaikoura.

With an expected increase in traffic along this route, Spark has boosted the localised coverage, allowing Spark customers a place to stop on the roadside to make a phone call or send a text.

“Maruia is an ideal place for motorists to pull over to take a break, which makes providing localised coverage for our customers in the area, even more important as they can take a call,” Spark Head of South Island Paul Deavoll said.

A metro cell is a small-scale cell site delivering service to a more localised area. It is placed at the local Chorus Exchange, and the antenna allows mobile coverage to extend approximately 400m in radius. This means mobile coverage is now available on the main road, the Maruia community, and around the Maruia Motel.

Spark has previously used a similar site in the South Canterbury township of Albury, to provide a service for the local community to great success.

Maruia Motels manager Debbie Sherman commented: “With the noticed increase of traffic in the area and with the motel also being busier the metro cell has made a real difference to the people living here and for our guests."Before the metro cell was installed, Spark customers would have to travel further up the road to be able to make a phone call," she said.

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Nationwide upgrades:

To ensure customers right across the country can stay connected to their friends and families throughout the busy summer months, Spark has worked hard over the last couple of months to improve its mobile network in time for Christmas to cater for the expected increase in demand for mobile data.

In the last three months, Spark has delivered 4G upgrades to more than 100 cell sites and there are five new cell sites in popular holiday locations including Taupo Bay, Pataua (Northland) Kauaeranga Valley, Manaia, Te Puru (Coromandel), Mt Maunganui Apartments and Bishops Bay (Wanaka).

In addition to this, Spark is rolling in portable cell sites to seven holiday locations across the country to improve capacity in the areas as they see huge increases in visitors.

Temporary sites are being delivered to Mangawhai, Gisborne (campgrounds), Sandy Bay and Pohara Beach (Tasman District), two sites in Wanaka at Mt Iron and Rippon Estate, and one at the Festival of Lights and Bowl of Brooklands in Taranaki.

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