Mullinahone continues to press for improved broadband and mobile phone coverage
A petition signed by nearly 90% of Mullinahone's population calling for broadband access and improved mobile phone coverage has been submitted to Vodafone and the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.
The petition signed by 441 people or an overwhelming 87% of the community's population was sent to the phone company and Minister Eamon Ryan last week.
Gina Hetherington, who set up the petition, said the overwhelming response showed the great need for better mobile phone coverage and broadband access in Mullinahone village and its rural hinterland.
Gina, who co-runs PAWS Animal Rescue Shelter near Mullinahone, greyhound kennels owner Carole Shinkwin and musician John Cassidy attracted widespread national media attention last month when they highlighted through 'The Nationalist' how Mullinahone people travel out to Kilbride Cemetery more than five miles from the village several times a week to download what they need from the internet and e-mail on their laptops.
The lack of broadband access in their area means it can take hours to download e-mails and information from websites.
The cemetery is located within the broadband coverage area for the town of Callan in Co. Kilkenny.
Gina said the majority of people who signed the petition were even more concerned about the poor mobile phone signal in Mullinahone.
Local business people and residents are frustrated at the coverage that causes them to lose and miss phone calls, pick up messages and missed phone calls often hours after they have been left. The poor coverage is losing them business, they say.
Vodafone provides the best mobile phone coverage in Mullinahone and this is why the petition has been sent to the company
Meanwhile, Gina said Mullinahone people want their community to be included in the National Broadband Scheme, which is rolling out high speed internet access to the remaining rural areas that still don't have broadband.
According to the Department of Communications, Mullinahone is excluded from the Scheme because Premier Broadband is already providing broadband services in the Mullinahone area.
Following the publication of the story about Mullinahone’s mobile phone and broadband access difficulties in ‘The Nationalist’, Premier Broadband contacted Gina and she is currently trying out their broadband service that has been offered to her at a discounted rate until December.
So far, she has found the speed of the Premier's broadband inadequate.
She was also visited by a representative of Eircom several weeks ago, who promised that the phone exchange in Mullinahone would be upgraded within two weeks to enable Eircom to provide high speed internet access to its customers in the community.
This upgrade hasn’t happened so far but a spokesperson for Eircom said the Mullinahone exchange is on track to be “broadband enabled” next month.
Vodafone, meanwhile, says it’s continually optimising its coverage to provide the best possible mobile phone services in the Mullinahone area. The company points out that Mullinahone is a challenging region to achieve good coverage due to its topography and low population density.
Vodafone spokesperson Christine Heffernan said they were in discussions with ComReg regarding liberalisation of the 3G 900 MHz spectrum band that could be used to provide services offering the potential for more effective and lower cost provision of mobile broadband services in rural areas.
She pointed out that in the past 18 months the company has added 9 additional voice coverage sites and 11 mobile broadband sites in the Tipperary and Kilkenny region.
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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