Rural Broadband now live in Tatuanui

Media Release
18 December 2012

Rural Broadband now live in Tatuanui

Christmas is coming early for some residents in the Matamata-Piako District as Vodafone switched on a newly built cell site at Tatuanui ,under the Governments Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI).

A 25 metre monopole tower provides service to over 590 households in the area. The service, with urban comparable pricing, delivers not only mobile coverage, but wireless broadband via a high performance modem, adding a WiFi network into the home. Phone calls can also be made through this service by plugging an existing landline phone directly into the modem, removing the need for a landline connection. Customers can port their existing landline number to this new service.

There are two new RBI sites in the area – along with Tatanui, a new tower was switched on in Manawaru last month. Vodafone confirms five of the existing cell sites in the area have already been upgraded to deliver the wireless broadband service - Matamata central, Te Aroha, Tahuna, Tamihana amd Morrinsville. One remaining site at Omahine will also be upgraded before 2014.

Vodafone’s Business Development Manager Nick McKimm says the new cell site brings greater options to the community, with households and businesses now having choice in broadband service.

“Switching to wireless broadband can provide a consistent and reliable service to residents It also offers the rural community the opportunity to increase production and monitoring through machine to machine automation,” he said.

An additional benefit of RBI for rural communities is the extension of mobile coverage to include 4,500km of rural New Zealand roads, which until now have been without.

“This is a massive benefit for rural communities in dealing with emergencies, transport logistics, road safety and other real life circumstances that have been hampered by limited coverage,” said McKimm.

Under the five year RBI plan, Vodafone will upgrade 387 existing cell towers and build a further 154 new towers in rural areas all over New Zealand. The government is funding the civil construction costs of these new sites which are designed to accommodate Vodafone equipment and that of other mobile and wireless operators. 26 new sites have been built so far, and an additional 131 have been upgraded.

Customers can find out if this service will be available at their address by checking online at
www.vodafone.co.nz/rural-broadband.

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