Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Telstra's Nic Danks answers questions about what's happening with rural phone towers, and reception issues people are experiencing

Transcript

Telstra's Nic Danks answers questions about what's happening with rural phone towers, and reception issues people are experiencing · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: OK, and I have had a few of you getting
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: in contact with us about the mobile phone coverage and
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  Speaker 1: your landline coverage out at Dundee and joining me in
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  Speaker 1: the studio this morning, we've got the general manager of
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  Speaker 1: Telstra for the Northern Territory, Nick Danks, Good morning to
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: your neck.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie. How are you not too bad now?
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  Speaker 1: Nick? This situation in Telstra it's one, I mean, the
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  Speaker 1: situation in Dundee. It is one that gets raised with
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  Speaker 1: us fairly regularly. I would say, not just the landline
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  Speaker 1: but also the mobile coverage. Is there some work underway
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  Speaker 1: to try and rectify this situation for residents in Dundee?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Katie. So I think I've been a pet project
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  Speaker 2: in mind for a while. I have spent a bit
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  Speaker 2: of time down there and spoken to a lot of
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  Speaker 2: people down there. We've helped some people out to improve
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  Speaker 2: their coverage. But I'm pleased to say that the new
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  Speaker 2: tower for Dundee Beach has been approved and funded. We've
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  Speaker 2: gone through all the council regulations, had all the approvals
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  Speaker 2: through the towers now currently at the Winelli Exchange is
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  Speaker 2: being checked to make sure all the parts and everything's
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  Speaker 2: right before we go out there. It will be assembled
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  Speaker 2: at two hundred and twenty Mermaids Circuit, exactly where the
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  Speaker 2: current tower is, so it'll go right next to that,
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  Speaker 2: and the build of that will begin at the end
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  Speaker 2: of this month and beginning of May. Tower plan to
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  Speaker 2: go live due August September. So it's not just a
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  Speaker 2: brand new forty meter tower right next to the other one.
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  Speaker 2: It's a replacement of all the equipment as well. It'll
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  Speaker 2: be brand new antennas, brand new equipment. The coverage will
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  Speaker 2: be cbe the equality coverage. It'll get above the height
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  Speaker 2: of the trees, which is the issue that we've got.
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  Speaker 2: Now it's not a back hall problem, so it's not
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  Speaker 2: a problem getting the data to the tower. The tower
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  Speaker 2: there Dundee's always been a problem getting the signal out
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  Speaker 2: because of the trees and stuff. I could have chopped
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  Speaker 2: the top of the trees, but they wouldn't let me
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  Speaker 2: do that and let you do. So we've bought a
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  Speaker 2: brand new tower and that'll go live, and so the
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  Speaker 2: target date is August, but I always say September just
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  Speaker 2: in case of whether or something goes wrong. But the
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  Speaker 2: tower is physically here in the Northern Territory and it
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  Speaker 2: will be assembled during May.
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  Speaker 1: June, so literally that work is going to get underway
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  Speaker 1: throughout the dry season, so that hopefully it is all
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  Speaker 1: done August September at the latest.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, so it'll be a brand new tower. And I'll
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  Speaker 2: be more than happy to go down there with a
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  Speaker 2: local member and a couple of local people that have
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  Speaker 2: spoken to me over the last two or three probably
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  Speaker 2: longer years over that and happily cut the ribon on
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  Speaker 2: a Friday night and going have it to the club
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  Speaker 2: because he's something I'd been passionate about to get done,
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  Speaker 2: and we are definitely going to get it done. And
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  Speaker 2: no doubt that.
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  Speaker 1: You've had plenty of people get in contact with you.
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  Speaker 1: I know, like I've got an email just here from Karen.
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  Speaker 1: It says, Hi, Katie, I believe you've got tel strong today.
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  Speaker 1: I recently moved to Dundee and I'm appalled at the
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  Speaker 1: stone age service that we receive. We pay full price
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  Speaker 1: for mobile plans, yet we receive probably sixty percent service,
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  Speaker 1: and that's only if we fork out to get the
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  Speaker 1: equipment for our property. So I know that others have
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  Speaker 1: done certain things to try and boost their service out there,
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  Speaker 1: haven't they?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so the boosters that we Telstra go unit, so
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  Speaker 2: we sell the boosters that work really well, the legal ones.
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  Speaker 2: We've had some problems over the past, some and legal
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  Speaker 2: repeaters down there which have affected the network. This new
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  Speaker 2: tower at its new height with the new equipment on it,
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  Speaker 2: because the tower is relatively old down there, because the
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  Speaker 2: Dundee Beach one was done a long, long long time
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  Speaker 2: before I got here. The newest one that's done is
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  Speaker 2: by no since I've been here. But it'll give the
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  Speaker 2: full coverage of that area. Now, there's going to be
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  Speaker 2: a couple of spots we're still may need boosters for
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  Speaker 2: because of topography, because of shape of land, height of trees,
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  Speaker 2: places where people put buildings. But once the towers get built,
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  Speaker 2: we'll look at those individual cases one on one, as
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  Speaker 2: we do whenever we put a new tower in anywhere.
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  Speaker 1: Now I've got a message on the text sign It
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  Speaker 1: says my signal four mobiles drop from four G to
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  Speaker 1: two bars down to four G with no bars if
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  Speaker 1: you're lucky. It says that if you're lucky, I may
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  Speaker 1: get three G. But get sick of phone dropping out
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  Speaker 1: and forget the internet that's at the block at hump
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  Speaker 1: De dooo and Dundee yep.
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  Speaker 2: So I won't know where the address is for that,
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  Speaker 2: but again, this tower will address that issue and give
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  Speaker 2: them four mobile coverage with all the latest equipment with
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  Speaker 2: a forty meter tower compared to a thirty odd meter
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  Speaker 2: and some old antenna systems that's on there. This is
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  Speaker 2: a completely brand new tower that's going into Dundee.
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  Speaker 1: I know, Nick, some people listening will be thinking, how
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  Speaker 1: come it's taken so.
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  Speaker 2: Long, because we do still have areas in the Northern
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  Speaker 2: Territory that don't have coverage at all, let alone poor coverage,
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  Speaker 2: and we've got to work it through. When everything gets
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  Speaker 2: a priority, money's real, we've got to prioritize these jobs.
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  Speaker 2: The Dundee one has been passionate mine for a while.
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  Speaker 2: We did need to upgrade the fiber through there and
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  Speaker 2: that happened when we did the buy no bills and
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  Speaker 2: we built the tower at Bino there, so that's helped
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  Speaker 2: do this bill. So that's given me more back hall
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  Speaker 2: and the plan was always to improve the tower at Dundee.
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  Speaker 1: Now I know that we received a message a little
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  Speaker 1: bit earlier today about Bori Lula. I'm just trying to
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  Speaker 1: find that message so I can read it out. But
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  Speaker 1: what's the situation out at Boro Lula at the moment
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  Speaker 1: with coverage?
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  Speaker 2: At eight fifty on Sunday morning, a team installing the
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  Speaker 2: street lights on the corner Robinson Road and Walgreen Road
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  Speaker 2: cut the major fiber to the Telster exchange, so they
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  Speaker 2: ripped it completely out of the ground. The guys that
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  Speaker 2: did it had been wonderful to help our team get
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  Speaker 2: it back up and running, so they dug some more
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  Speaker 2: pits to help us fix it. We mobilize the team
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  Speaker 2: on Monday and all repairs will fixed yesterday, so the
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  Speaker 2: mobile coverage has been fixed. Unfortunately, I can do some
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  Speaker 2: certain things, but we can't help it when someone rips
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  Speaker 2: a cable of the ground. We did speak to the
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  Speaker 2: local MP's office. I personally spoke to Steve Edgington, Ryan
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  Speaker 2: from my team spoke to the Rape of Council. So
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  Speaker 2: we informed as many people as we could. But unfortunately
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  Speaker 2: cables do get cut. We are human beings. I just
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  Speaker 2: recommend that people use die before they dig before they dig.
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  Speaker 2: But this one here was just an accident where the
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  Speaker 2: cable got cut.
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  Speaker 1: There goodness me. So the cable got cash and it
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  Speaker 1: meant that everybody was out of service for a while.
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  Speaker 2: No different than the Stuart Highway getting blocked a few
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  Speaker 2: months ago and we couldn't get foed up. It's the
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  Speaker 2: fiber going to the exchange and they ripped it. This
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  Speaker 2: pull of power point out. It's exactly the same thing.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, dank Cy. One of the other things that we
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  Speaker 1: have been speaking about at different times is out of
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  Speaker 1: Howard Springs, the location of this phone tower out at
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  Speaker 1: Howard Springs and a lot of people not wanting it
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  Speaker 1: in the location that's being proposed. Where are we at
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  Speaker 1: with this decision.
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  Speaker 2: We're up to the final part of submissions, replying to
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  Speaker 2: all the submissions, So that's what delayed the hearing because
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  Speaker 2: we have to reply back to all the submissions. Before
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  Speaker 2: we do that, we nearly finished all those replies back
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  Speaker 2: to all of those and then we'll go through the process.
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  Speaker 2: As I said with this one here, we have to
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  Speaker 2: go through the process do with all all applications for
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  Speaker 2: a new tower. Hopefully I have some news for you
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  Speaker 2: short sooner rather than later.
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  Speaker 1: Is it a done deal in that spot though.
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  Speaker 2: As I said, it's still going through the process and
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  Speaker 2: I have to leave it through the process.
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  Speaker 1: All right. I know I could ask you that same
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  Speaker 1: question in ten different ways and it's still won't answer
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  Speaker 1: it for me. So I will make sure that I
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  Speaker 1: will make sure that we catch up with you again
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  Speaker 1: next week. Now I have got a message here that says,
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  Speaker 1: silly question, but why not build a tower near the
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  Speaker 1: lodge as the current tower is on the other side.
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  Speaker 2: We have to go through. The problem is whe where
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  Speaker 2: we build a tower, putting a tower somewhere where someone
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  Speaker 2: thinks it's easy. We need to have power availability, We
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  Speaker 2: need to have land access, so we'd have to have
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  Speaker 2: access to the land, and then we need to go
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  Speaker 2: through what the fellow but authority approval exactly a lot
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  Speaker 2: we've done with how it springs that takes time that
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  Speaker 2: we've had them in our springs where it's taken three
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  Speaker 2: years to get approval. The block of land at Dundee
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  Speaker 2: where we're building it, we own the land, it's our land,
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  Speaker 2: so that the fellow of authority was a lot easier
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  Speaker 2: because there was already a tower there. So yes, you
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  Speaker 2: could look at moving and yes you can do all that,
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  Speaker 2: but then all of a sudden you you've got to
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  Speaker 2: go through that whole authority approval and somebody has only
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  Speaker 2: got to complain or be upset about the build and
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  Speaker 2: that just delays and delays. It takes longer. I know
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  Speaker 2: it's taken a while to get to Dundee. But once
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  Speaker 2: we got the approval to build Dundee, I didn't want
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  Speaker 2: to spend another year going through approval processes. I just
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  Speaker 2: want to get thing built and my target was to
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  Speaker 2: get it done for the next drive to the next
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  Speaker 2: holiday season. This is the quickest I could get it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it is so important out there at Dundee.
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  Speaker 1: I mean we know that it like the population has
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  Speaker 1: exploded out at Dundee in the sense that there's plenty
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  Speaker 1: of people that live out there, but throughout the you know,
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  Speaker 1: throughout the tourist season, there's a lot of people out there.
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  Speaker 2: And one of the things COVID did good better otherwise,
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  Speaker 2: it did improve the tourism internally within Australia and that
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  Speaker 2: helped get some funding up for some of these ones
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  Speaker 2: that we're doing that struggled to get there before because
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  Speaker 2: it was peaks and troughs. Because a lot more tourists
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  Speaker 2: are coming through, we're doing a lot more local builds
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  Speaker 2: as well.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, So any others that we should know about,
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  Speaker 1: because I know I just got a message from Mick.
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  Speaker 1: He said, Katie, I only get one bar of four
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  Speaker 1: G and rapid Creek.
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  Speaker 2: I need to send me his address. And I look
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  Speaker 2: at that one because that could be a to Boget,
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  Speaker 2: that could be an issue with a building, humanwards or
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  Speaker 2: something wrong there. But send me, get him to send
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  Speaker 2: you the address and I'll give him a call personally.
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  Speaker 2: But but yeah, we yes, I have got some more builds.
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  Speaker 2: There's what's called the Regional Regional Connectivity Program too by
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  Speaker 2: the federal government. We're just waiting for their announcement. That
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  Speaker 2: should be suited rather than later. And as soon as
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  Speaker 2: we announced that, I have put him for nine new
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  Speaker 2: sites in the Northern Territory and they've got people who
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: have been involved and know where they are. But I'm
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  Speaker 2: happy to announce those once the federal government announce what
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  Speaker 2: they're doing.
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  Speaker 1: Danksy, just to go back to that, the new tower
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  Speaker 1: out at Dundee, It's been a long time in the making,
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  Speaker 1: hasn't it. How long has it taken for you to,
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  Speaker 1: you know, to reach this point where the building's going
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  Speaker 1: to get under.
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  Speaker 2: One naxt three years. It's probably taken which is about
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  Speaker 2: normal to build it. By the time you start a
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  Speaker 2: process of getting a tower and to build it's about
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  Speaker 2: the three year process by Tommy. And when we go
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  Speaker 2: through it, getting funding approved, local council approval, talking to
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  Speaker 2: the locals as well. It has been going on for
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  Speaker 2: a while at Dundee and of course usage has got
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  Speaker 2: more and more and more and said they won'tly be
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  Speaker 2: choped down the trees, so I've got to build a
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  Speaker 2: bigger tower.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I know that the people of Dundee are
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: going to be pleased. They're going to be really pleased
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  Speaker 1: when that work is underway and when it's all complete.
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  Speaker 1: We really appreciate you coming in this morning and we
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: will stalk you next week about that Howard Springs location.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you,