‘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 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) 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 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.”
Read the full article at couriermail.com.au.
