Wyndham residents are set to have better mobile connectivity as the state government announced the municipality will receive multiple new mobile towers as well as upgrades to existing towers.
Innovation, Medical Research and Digital Economy minister Jaala Pulford on July 21 announced partnerships with Optus and TPG Telecom to deliver five new mobile towers and upgrade five existing towers to 5G.
“Melbourne’s outer west is growing fast, and we’re delivering upgrades and building infrastructure to support these communities – which will also boost the local economy and create more jobs,” Ms Pulford said.
Coverage areas include Hoppers Crossing, Mount Cottrell, Point Cook, Tarneit, Truganina, Werribee South and Wyndham Vale.
Hoppers Crossing resident Marion Anderson said construction of new towers would be “amazing” and the “dodgy” reception in the area was “so frustrating”.
“I basically couldn’t get internet in my house, calls would drop out constantly, or your voice would sound like a robot voice to people you were talking to,” Ms Anderson said.
“I lost a job opportunity…you needed to be able to work from home and have a good internet connection, I couldn’t do it, it was really frustrating.”
Ms Anderson said up until a few months ago, she would have to walk to the corner store to make phone calls.
“I would go a couple of days without being able to make a phone call from my house, people wouldn’t be able to call me, they’d text me and I would get the text two days later,” she said.
While Ms Anderson said she now has a “very basic connection” in place, she believes the towers are good news for residents.
“More towers are going up, that’s really good,” she said.
The work will be carried out between 2023 and 2026 to deliver better services across 296 square kilometres in the outer west, benefiting more than 89,000 homes and businesses.
