Vodafone says Awakino will stay a black hole

Spending tens of millions of dollars would not improve cellphone coverage in the Awakino black hole, Vodafone says.

The issue of no cellphone service in the area was again highlighted this week when a serious truck crash closed State Highway 3 for two hours.

Hundreds of motorists were left stranded, with no way of contacting loved ones, when a cattle truck with a trailer jack-knifed just south of the Awakino Hotel on Monday.

The lack of service remains a problem despite Vodafone installing a new cell site at Mokau last year which is giving full coverage to some parts of the town but the service remains patchy as you head north along SH3.

Head of Vodafone corporate communications, Paul Brislen, said there were no plans to further upgrade cellphone coverage in the area.

"There is a real problem in the gorge, as it is such a difficult area to build in," Mr Brislen said.

He said the area was one of the least accessible places in New Zealand and spending tens of millions of dollars would only "scratch the surface" in providing coverage. On Monday desperate people lined up to use the Awakino Hotel's landline to inform those waiting for them of their plight.

Bell Block truckie Chris O'Connor, who kicked off a petition to draw attention to the issue in 2008, said he didn't believe full coverage would be achievable with today's technology.

"Due to the topography of the area and limitations of current equipment, however it is my viewpoint that a drive towards obtaining the best possible results to improve service in the area are still of vital importance," Mr O'Connor said.

"Due to the nature and the importance of State Highway 3 it is essential that communications are considerably improved along the northern gateway into the Taranaki region."

Mr O'Connor said cellphone companies made millions but progress on upgrading the service was slow or non-existent at times.

He still believed the public could put pressure on the telecommunication giants. "Consumers should never underestimate their own power when they band together on how much that they can influence financial investment from large organisations to improve services by showing them a strong community demand."

Vodafone's new installation, at Mokau, was welcomed by the community, Mr O'Connor said, but he still wanted to see pockets of coverage linked together to create a much wider service area.

A Telecom spokeswoman said the mobile coverage team was continuing to investigate areas to improve coverage.

"The focus being trying to get the widest improvement in coverage rather than creating small islands of coverage," she said.

The team was putting together a framework for assessing new coverage requirements, which includes the Awakino area, taking into account a wide range of factors including topography, population cost and demand.

The results of the nationwide assessment would be used to determine programme priorities in April, she said.

- © Fairfax NZ News