Wairau Valley, Marlborough is a small but growing township. Although it is only 40km away from Blenheim, it has very poor internet and cell phone coverage. This was really highlighted in the recent storm event and flooding when residents needed access to emergency information but couldn’t always get it.

Covid lockdowns have also thrown this lack of stable and reliable communication services into stark relief. With many people trying to work from home, the lack of bandwidth led to some families having to “take turns” for video calls for work or education purposes. While large parts of New Zealand take reliable internet and cellular communication for granted, we have tales of people standing outside to take calls, or needing to stand in the corner of the spare room depending on their service provider. Many of us rely on copper ADSL lines, or expensive satellite wireless coverage.

We hope that you will support us in asking our MP, Stuart Smith, to help bring our township into the 21st Century. Many of us have family in other parts of New Zealand, or the wider world, and we would love to have reliable ways to keep in touch with them. We don’t think it is unreasonable to expect to be able to have two people browsing the internet at once, or be able to make a phone call without standing outside the house. Please help us address this challenge