New tower for Duaringa to benefit Bluff, Rolleston and Dingo internet speeds

‘Non-existent’ internet services in four rural Central Highlands communities are about to improve drastically with council giving the green light to a new tower project. Find out what it means for you.

Aerial view of proposed sites for a NBN tower at Duaringa.

‘What internet’ was the response of the Duaringa Hotel and Caravan Park manager when asked what the internet access was currently like in the area.

“The quality is not good at all. Sometimes non-existent. Because some days we just do not have it and it causes havoc in regards to everything from our eftpos, we rely heavily on emails regarding accommodation,” she said.

But that is all be about to change.

In February Murray & Associates Surveys and Town Planners submitted a planning report to the Central Highlands Regional Council on behalf of Queensland Connectivity Network (QCN) Fibre about the development of a Queensland Connectivity Network tower in Duaringa.

The development was approved by council at its March 23 general meeting.

The sites for the development are Lot 25 and Lot 26, 12 William Street, Duaringa and the project is a part of regional QCN rollout across the country.

The tower, which will be roughly 30m high, will be constructed between the library and community tennis court but will not affect either one.

According to the Community Reference Groups it will provide a needed service “in that the infrastructure will increase internet speeds for the Duaringa Township, which will benefit schools, emergency services and residents and contributes positively to the ongoing transformative digital change currently occurring in the Central Highlands”.

The building will not clash with the facade of the other properties of the street.

The building would not require extra parking to be added to the area, nor would it impact the current parking spaces.

It is predicted that upkeep of the building won’t impact others in the area and will occur rarely.

While the building will be at Duaringa it will provide internet connectivity for Dingo, Bluff, and Rolleston.

Central Highlands Regional Council completed an audit of the speed and access of internet halfway through 2017 of these areas, which found these towns had insufficient mobile coverage and were not considered to have high speed internet.

The site plan for the proposed telecommunications tower at Duaringa.

The internet in these areas was classified for satellite only use and they had no fibre infrastructure.

The Duaringa Hotel and Caravan Park manager, who preferred not to be named, said she felt regional and remote communities like Duaringa were ‘never’ given the same priority by the council and government in regards to internet speed and connectivity.

“It’s very hard to deal with people that are from residential areas, residential towns, that they can’t understand why we can’t reply to emails on a prompt manner and such,” she said.

“They have no idea of the struggles we deal with.”

A letter of support from general manager of Communities, John McDougall, to QCN Fibre engagement director, Andrew Walpole, echoed this sentiment.

“Council considers improvements to the digital connectivity available to the Yamala Enterprise Area (YEA) will provide significant economic and social benefits to this area, Emerald and the broader Central Highlands Region,” he said.

“Access to fast and reliable digital infrastructure will be a key enabler to realising the potential of the YEA.

“As the YEA continues to develop further, social benefits will be realised through local job creation.

“Council’s vision is ‘a progressive region creating opportunities for all.

“At present many of our communities do not have the same digital infrastructure that larger centres are afforded.

“This in turn presents challenges for businesses to engage with the digital economy on a state, national and international level and for communities to remain connected with the digital world.”

Council minutes state the cost of all works associated with the development and construction of the development including services, facilities and/or public utility alterations required are met at no cost to the council or relevant utility provider, unless otherwise stated in a development condition.

It is unclear when construction will begin on the project.