Catlins cellphone cover set for boost

A gap in cellphone coverage in the Catlins will soon be a thing of the past, with the community named one of the successful applications in the Vodafone Community Cellsite Scheme.

Applications from the north and south Catlins were yesterday announced as the only sites in the South Island set to get mobile coverage later in the year, funded through the scheme by Vodafone.

Jill Borland, co-ordinator of the north Catlins application and district development manager for the Clutha District Council, said the announcement was a boost for the entire Catlins area as an emerging tourism destination, while Venture Southland’s community development team leader Bobbi Brown, who submitted an application with the south Catlins community, said mobile coverage would have life-altering consequences for the area.

‘‘An improved ability to communicate will both save and enhance lives and will complement significant investment already committed to the area . . . ’’ she said.

But resident Sue Thompson, owner of the Niagara Falls cafe and restaurant, said she had mixed feelings on the announcement.

‘‘It would certainly enable us to be more organised and prepared – we don’t know whether we’re going to be serving for 10 people or 30 people [in the restaurant] – but for me, personally, I love not having [mobile coverage],’’ she said.

She planned to enforce a nocellphones policy in her restaurant once coverage kicked in, because one of the Catlins’ attractions was its isolation, and the phones’ constant use was antisocial, she said.

Residents of Waihau Bay, in the North Island, were also successful in their application for a cellsite.

Vodafone chief network officer Tony Baird said it planned to run a second round of the Community Cellsite Scheme later this year and will invite applications from other small rural communities.