Hamish Leckie's days of having to stand in certain parts of his rural Southland home to send text messages will soon be over. It is one of 13 towers which have been built, or are currently being built, by the Rural Connectivity Group year in rural Southland locations this year. The Rural Connectivity Group, a joint venture between Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees, is overseeing a nationwide programme for phase two of the Government-led rural broadband initiative. Group spokeswoman Holly Wilkinson says the recently built cellphone tower sites in rural Southland are at Morton Mains, Waikawa and Otahu Flat, which have all gone live. Rural Connectivity Group executive director Andrew Button says landowners such as Leckie have been instrumental in enabling improved mobile services to rural Southland communities.

Source: Stuff October 09, 2019 03:56 UTC