Temporary Telstra tower leaves Eden community with mobile blackspots

Mobile coverage has reduced following the demolition of the Eden Fishermen's Club, which included a Telstra tower on the site.

The replacement tower has a smaller footprint of mobile coverage and this was causing considerable concern for the bushfire season ahead.

Eden community development officer Eric Wolske said after the original tower was demolished as part of the Sapphire of Eden project, and replaced by a lower/smaller tower, areas of Eden no longer had reliable mobile coverage.

"Reception in some areas of Eden is almost non-existent at times and there have also been reports of emergency medical devices not working correctly - this needs to be addressed," Mr Wolske said.

He said the signal at the wharf was dreadful and even in town people and businesses struggled to get good reception that would allow them to run social/retail apps and EFTPOS machines.

There were concerns that without an upgrade it would only get worse with the influx of visitors to the area, and cruise passengers disembarking and eager to post photos of Eden on their social media.

But by far the more worrying aspect was how the community can be kept informed during emergencies such as bushfires.

"With fires already impacting communities, the element of fear is evident," Mr Wolske said.

"How will a temporary tower cope in the event of an emergency?"

Mr Wolske said he had asked Telstra if a second temporary tower could be installed to help boost the signal, but was told by Telstra the organisation did not have any spare towers to deploy.

"It begs the question what are we to do in the event of an emergency.

"Where are the backups should we experience incidents similar to those in 2019/20, or other severe weather events?"

IN OTHER NEWS:

The history of the tower and how Eden ended up in this predicament was complex.

However, it started when the Fishermen's Club was demolished and a smaller tower was installed.

As part of the proposed development of the Sapphire of Eden complex, a specific site was to be identified and a boundary change made to allow for installation of a new Telstra tower.

The DA was approved for the permanent tower, but ACM understands the boundary change has not been completed.

In the meantime Core Asset Development, or Virtical as the company was now known, has put the almost 10,000 square metre site on the market for expressions of interest. The Coast Motel has also been put on the market with a price tag of $3.25million.

Have your say. Send a letter to the editor using the form below

Love your regional news? Then sign up for the Voice of Real Australia, news from across the country delivered free to your inbox