WORK has begun on the Hopkins Point Road Telstra tower and a time frame is yet to be established for the controversial Bushfield mobile phone tower.
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The update comes as Telstra staff work this week to upgrade its mobile base station at Warrnambool North and add additional infrastructure for better 5G capacity and connectivity to the community.
There will be no mobile coverage until Friday, October 6 at 5pm but the mobile network will not be impacted over the weekend.
From Monday, October 9 until Wednesday, October 11 there will be temporary disruptions during the day.
The works will not impact landline services, NBN services or mobile coverage from other providers.
Telstra regional general manager Steve Tinker said crews needed to work during daylight for safety.
He said the site would only be switched off when necessary and restored as quickly as possible.
"There's never a good time to undertake this sort of work but once it's completed, it will mean better mobile services for local residents," he said.
Mr Tinker said said it was expected work on the Hopkins Road tower would be finished by December.
A group of neighbours banded together to put in a formal submission of objection to the 31.3-metre tower which they said had bypassed normal planning approvals. The group argued they didn't need the tower near them because their reception was "perfectly good" and wanted it moved closer to those who need it in the Logans Beach/Hopkins Heights area.
At the time Mr Tinker said the location was regarded as a blackspot for mobile service because of the terrain, and Telstra had received a number of complains about poor mobile phone coverage.
The VCAT decision left objectors to the tower "bitterly disappointed."
Telstra first mooted its plans to build a $250,000, 35-metre 4G and 5G tower on the area in 2020.
They called for the tower to be moved further away. Telstra did move the location 260 metres away.
With the nearest Telstra tower more than 4km away in north Warrnambool, Telstra chose the Bushfield site in a bid to boost coverage and reduce congestion.
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