Wujal Wujal and Ayton will see an increase in mobile coverage and bandwidth after the state government this week committed $247, 000 to upgrading telecommunications infrastructure in the communities.
Microwave radio links will be upgraded in both communities, enabling higher speed data in the Wujal Wujal community, and an increased capacity for the 4G small cell in Ayton.
The LGAQ also helped fund part of the infrastructure.
Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy Leeanne Enoch said addressing connectivity issues in the community was long overdue.
“The Wujal Wujal and Ayton communities have suffered far too long with a poor telecommunications service that impacts on service delivery, community safety and the ability to seize economic opportunities,” Ms Enoch said.
“Wujal Wujal is a vulnerable community and earlier this year, the community lost telecommunications access for a period of eight days due to extreme weather conditions.
Wujal Wujal Mayor Desmond Tayley welcomed the funding and acknowledged that harsh conditions and remote location had hampered investment,
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders living in remote community’s face challenges in accessing basic telecommunications services due to our small and remote population, the cost of deploying telecommunications infrastructure, and harsh environmental conditions,” Mr Tayley said.
The Queensland government previously committed $251, 000 to secure a mobile tower for Ayton under the Commonwealth Mobile Black Spot Program.
“This tower is due to be installed in 2018 and will provide much needed coverage for the community,” Ms Enoch said.
“However, the dense and hilly terrain in the area means there are some areas that will not receive coverage from the new tower. This new backhaul capacity upgrade will enable a 4G small cell to be installed to boost coverage to the section of Ayton which was not in the planned coverage footprint of the tower.”