Hunter Valley Wine and Tourism Association pushes for nbn in wine country and phone reception on Hunter Expressway

Chairman George Souris expressed frustration over the poor mobile phone coverage on the Hunter Expressway and that only part of Hunter wine country was connected to the nbn (National Broadband Network).

Mr Souris said he knew of one business in wine country that had access to the nbn but that many others did not.

He said this not only gave some businesses a comparative disadvantage, but it was a “gross inconvenience for customers.”

Mr Souris said the association had been pushing for the nbn to be installed for about a year, but individual businesses had been trying for longer.

“It’s just unacceptable, we’ve waited long enough,” he said.

The rollout of the nbn is currently under way in parts of the Hunter Valley, with the whole Hunter region expected to be connected by mid-2018.

Some unconnected homes and businesses can access the network through nbn’s Sky Muster satellite service.

However, Mr Souris said the satellite service did not deliver the internet speed of that on the nbn.

Mr Souris said that improved phone service was “desperately needed” on the Hunter Expressway, as the gateway to wine country.

He said while the New England Highway retained good mobile coverage, the new Hunter Expressway has not yet had mobile coverage and there were numerous dead spots.

A Telstra spokesperson said that they had examined coverage along the Hunter Expressway and found that “the vast majority does have reasonable coverage”.

However, the spokesperson acknowledged that there was “limited to no mobile coverage” between Allandale and Sawyers Gully.  

“We are currently preparing designs for a possible site to address this gap but are too early in the process to make any commitments with respect to timing,” the spokesperson said.