Reception issues impacting Corinella businesses

CORINELLA residents have been deeply frustrated after severe storms late last year damaged Telstra’s tower, severely impacting mobile and internet connectivity for the town.
The tower is located near Guy Road in Corinella, and resident Bryan Whelan said the issue has had a devastating impact on his business and his wife’s, which rely heavily on connectivity to function.
Mr Whelan said he is often forced to go to the rear of his property to get connection and at the best of times, only has two to three bars of reception.
“We’re not even a kilometre from the tower and it (reception) drops out constantly,” he said.
“We’ve missed out on work; it’s been impossible to get in contact and the phone drops out constantly.”
Mr Whelan said many other residents had also been badly impacted by connectivity issues.
“We posted on social media with other Corinella residents and so far there has been dozens of responses,” he said.
“Everybody is complaining about the same thing.”
Mr Whelan said he had been in contact with Telstra to find out when the damage would be repaired, but issues with site access has delayed works.
He has also contacted federal Member for Monash Russell Broadbent, state Member for Bass Jordan Crugnale and council about his concerns, and is organising a meeting on March 5, at the Corinella & District Community Centre.
Telstra regional general manager Jenny Gray confirmed the tower was damaged late last year during severe weather, and that customers haven’t been getting full coverage.
“The infrastructure needs to be replaced and we are working to get everything back to full capacity as quickly as possible,” Ms Gray said.
“The condition of the area surrounding the site has prevented heavy vehicles from accessing the site.
“In addition to replacing the infrastructure, we are also improving access to the site for the future.
“We know this has been a long wait for customers and we thank them for their patience. We hope to have everything back to the way it should be in the next few weeks.”
State Member for Bass Jordan Crugnale said Mr Whelan was in regular contact with her office.
“It is of genuine concern that residents cannot operate their businesses in the area but also may have difficulty contacting emergency services should the need arise,” she said.
“As digital infrastructure and telecommunications falls under the care of the Commonwealth, I referred him onto the local federal office and also advised him on how to report the damaged tower to the ACMA.
“It’s a testament to Mr Whelan’s advocacy that he has succeeded in getting the local federal Member to engage with the community on the dreadful and dangerous lack of phone reception.”