Mobile networks in the Coromandel are being beefed up in anticipation of the busiest summer for data use yet.

Photo: file.

As visitors flock to our district's beaches, posting selfies and searching for restaurant recommendations, mobile date usage skyrockets, putting a strain on the capacity of network providers.

New Zealand's two biggest telecommunications firms - Spark and Vodafone - have augmented their mobile data capacity in Whangamata, Hahei, Pauanui and Whitianga.

Spark has enabled 4G on the central tower in Whangamata and expanded its network capacity from the tower on September Road, overlooking town. Spark is also bringing in a temporary site for the town centre to expand its 4G network. 4G provides faster download speeds than 3G, or third generation mobile telecommunications technology.

Spark had a 225 per cent increase in mobile data used over the Christmas and New Year period last summer and a five-fold increase in 4G mobile data usage during the same period and it expects this summer's peak period to be even busier.

Vodafone expects a similar increase in data usage and has spent more than $420,000 on its network in the Coromandel ahead of Christmas.

Vodafone has built a new cell site with 4G capacity in Whangamata and placed a COW (Cellsite on Wheels) in Hahei to provide more network capacity. Vodafone has also doubled its 4G capacity in Pauanui and Whitianga.

Vodafone has been heavily involved in the Government's Rural Broadband Initiative, building or upgrading towers that provide mobile network coverage and wireless broadband.

Our Council is actively involved in bidding for some of the $360 million that the Government announced earlier in 2015 that it would spend on improving broadband coverage around the country.

This money extends the Ultra-Fast Broadband and Rural Broadband initiatives (UFB and RBI) that have already helped improve internet speeds in some parts of the Coromandel.

We expect to have an answer in the early months of next year from the Government about our bid for UFB funding to invest in ultra-fast broadband carried on fibre-optic cable in our five biggest townships: Thames, Whitianga, Whangamata, Tairua-Pauanui and Coromandel Town.

After that, the Government will proceed with rolling out its expansion of the Rural Broadband Initiative to improve broadband speeds outside the main townships.

For more information on broadband in the Coromandel, see www.tcdc.govt.nz/rbi