Region to speed up

Hamish Heard
Telstra’s introduction of mobile broadband service to Geelong is set to bring local businesses up to speed with the world’s biggest cities, according to a company spokesperson.
Telstra corporate affairs manager for Victoria and Tasmania Pat O’Beirne said the network would help smaller local companies “bridge the divide” between city and country.
“We surveyed 90,000 business customers around Australia and the most common conversation during that research was on the need for small businesses to have increased mobility through access to mobile broadband capability,” Mr O’Beirne said.
“We found most small companies had big corporate clients and those clients were increasingly demanding their service providers operate with similar broadband capability.”
Mr O’Beirne said any business requiring mobility could find an application for mobile broadband.
“Imagine you’re a real estate agent in Geelong and you’re at a house taking photos. Those images could be beamed back to the office in real time or even posted on the internet on-site,” he said.
Mr O’Beirne said the company was in the process of surveying sites suitable for antennas for the network and was approaching private and commercial landowners to negotiate deals to lease the space for the towers and associated equipment sheds.
However, organised community groups have attempted to thwart Telstra’s plans to deliver mobile broadband to local customers.
Opponents to towers planned for Richmond Oval, in South Geelong, and a church at Leopold are furious with the telco’s decision to put antennas in their backyards.
They claim Telstra’s consultation process was a sham.
Richmond Oval Action Group spokesperson Kerry Dumble said the group had been advised that about 100 towers would be scattered throughout Geelong, the Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula.
She claimed Telstra had to place them 1.5 to three kilometres apart in built up areas.
But Mr O’Beirne said the group’s figures were inaccurate.
However, Telstra could not reveal the amount or locations of planned towers because it was “commercially sensitive information”.