Okarito campground gets coverage for Christmas

Media Release
22 December 2016

Okarito campground gets coverage for Christmas

Spark has today switched on a metro cell site at Ōkārito, bringing much needed mobile coverage to the local community campground.

A metro cell is a small-scale cell site solution, delivering service to a more localised area. Spark has previously installed a similar site in South Canterbury township of Albury earlier this year and more recently at Maruia on State Highway 65, which has become the main route between Picton and Christchurch, after the recent earthquakes.

Ōkārito is located on a popular South Island tourist trail. It is home to more than 76 different species of native birds on Ōkārito Lagoon, including the famous Kotuku white heron and royal spoonbills. The metro cell is located on top of the facilities building at the Ōkārito Campground, allowing mobile coverage to extend approximately 400m in radius. New coverage will provide connectivity for residents, campground guests and passing tourists.

Local community support has been the driving force behind the installation of the metro cell, as the community first needed to raise funds to upgrade the current Chorus cabinet.

Community coordinator Ian James said until now the town has not had any cell phone coverage.

“It’s an enormous help to us for Spark to come and add in this coverage. We’re grateful to Spark for helping us.

“This will support the five local businesses operating in and around the Ōkārito community as currently we have internet access but no cell coverage, meaning that people have had to drive further up the road to use their mobiles,” James added.

Spark’s Head of South Island Paul Deavoll thanked the local community for working with Spark to get the coverage up and running in time for summer.

“Following the success of the metro cell at Albury, we decided to put a metro cell in at Ōkārito campground to provide localised coverage,” says Spark’s Head of South Island Paul Deavoll.

“Where building a full mobile site with a tower, at a cost of up to half a million dollars, might not be feasible, the metro cell gives us a solution for other small communities of a similar size that currently lack mobile coverage,” says Deavoll.

“We’re pleased to be able to find a solution for residents, tourists and motorists passing through the area, and will be looking to identify further areas where the metro cell could be used to alleviate a similar situation,” he added.

Nationwide upgrades:
To ensure customers right across the country can stay connected to their friends and families throughout the busy summer months, Spark has worked hard over the last couple of months to improve its mobile network in time for Christmas to cater for the expected increase in demand for mobile data.

In the last three months, Spark has delivered 4G upgrades to more than 100 cell sites and there are seven new cell sites in popular holiday locations including Taupo Bay, Pataua (Northland), Kauaeranga Valley, Manaia, Te Puru (Coromandel), Mt Maunganui Apartments and Bishops Bay (Wanaka).

In addition to this, Spark is rolling in portable cell sites to seven holiday locations across the country to improve capacity in the areas as they see huge increases in visitors.

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