April 24, 2014
South Burnett Regional Council has worked in conjunction with other local councils to identify five major communication black spots in the region.
“Five key black spots have been identified and these were communicated to representatives from Telstra,” Mayor Wayne Kratzmann said.
“It is essential for the growth of the region and for economic development that the black spots be looked at by Telstra and improvements to connectivity occur.”
The five black spots identified in the South Burnett are:
1. The Wondai-Chinchilla and Durong-Mundubbera roads
2. The area around Boondooma Dam
3. The Maidenwell-Bunya Mountains area
4. The area around Murgon and Cherbourg
5. The Bunya Highway between Murgon and Goomeri
The Wide Bay Burnett Regional Organisation Of Councils (WBBROC) contracted an independent consultant to test the effectiveness of the local broadband network.
“Councillors worked with the contractor be providing feedback from our residents as to where there were communication issues,” Mayor Kratzmann said.
“It makes it very hard for us to encourage new business to move to the region when we have connectivity issues. In this day and age, it is a key requirement of business that they have access to phone and internet services.
“The floods of 2013 also identified the necessity for effective communication networks. The increase in people using the internet and social media to find out about natural disasters has been significant over the past few years.”
WBBROC consists of representatives from the South Burnett, Bundaberg, Fraser Coast, Gympie, Cherbourg and North Burnett regional councils.
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