THE National Broadband Network (NBN) has submitted plans to build seven telecommunication stations in the Moyne Shire to upgrade the district’s broadband.
On behalf of government corporation NBN Co Limited, project manager Visionstream has applied for permits to erect monopoles across the Moyne Shire at Macarthur, Winslow, Panmure, Hawkesdale, Mailors Flat, Mortlake and Woolsthorpe.
The seven communications facilities have been proposed on private property and Crown Land, each including a monopole between 35 and 45 metres tall — half the height of the MCG’s lighting towers — with antennae panels fixed near the top.
Utilising three technologies — optic fibre, fixed wireless and satellite — the $35.9 billion NBN will offer high-speed broadband to homes and businesses across the country.
The proposed Moyne Shire towers, each constructed at a cost of $240,000, will provide a fixed wireless broadband service, delivering a 4G signal from antennas direct to a set amount of homes within the coverage area.
Public input for the Macarthur, Winslow, Panmure and Hawkesdale submissions closed on July 16 after council released details in June.
Few complaints were made to the council’s planning department, but the developer and one objector are discussing a slight repositioning of the Winslow monopole at the Duffy Road recreation reserve.
Planning manager Michelle Grainger said there had been only three objections in total — one each to the Winslow, Hawkesdale and Panmure submissions. “We will start looking at issues raised in objections and will ask the applicant to respond shortly,” she said.
Written public objections can be made concerning the Mailors Flat, Mortlake and Woolsthorpe applications before August 13.
The south-west was left out of the three-year rollout for high-speed fibre cable internet delivered in the first stage of the NBN, announced in March this year.
Optic fibre networks will be deployed to service areas with more than 1000 customers.
j.pech@standard.fairfax.com.au