The Whitsunday Regional Council is delivering on a strong program of innovative business improvements that leverage modern technologies to deliver increased services to the community.
At the centre of the improvements is an agreement with Nexium Communications (an Ergon Energy Company) and Next Generation Voice (NGV) to provide high-speed internet and data services to Council businesses and the broader community.
Mayor Jenny Whitney said it had been identified that the Proserpine and Bowen Water Treatment Plants did not have adequate communication links to facilitate the integration of state-of- the-art telemetry and operations systems, therefore an upgrade was required.
“The alliance Council has entered with Nexium and NGV will provide high-speed internet and data services to the Proserpine and Bowen Water Treatment Plants, as well as the opportunity to upgrade these services at other Council businesses such as libraries, airports and depots.
“The Nexium–NGV alliance is the most advantageous and economically viable option for Council to gain high-speed internet access and is also advantageous for the community, as high-speed services will also be offered to local educational institutions and businesses, by NGV.
“In the next few months, the high-speed services will be available to interested educational institutions and businesses across the Whitsunday region, through provider NGV.
“This is an exciting opportunity for the Whitsunday region to increase competitive options for high speed data services to local businesses.”
Whitsunday Regional Council Director of Corporate Services Graham Jarvis said these high speed data services are being made possible by the upgrade of Council’s owned optic fibre in the Proserpine Main Street providing Ergon Energy (Nexium) with an access point to the network.
“NGV will then take over the day-to-day maintenance of Council’s high speed microwave radio link connecting Proserpine and Bowen, in return for access to some of that capacity.
“This allows for the high speed services to be delivered network wide to Council and branches off from there to the community.
“The Bowen Depot microwave radio link will also be included in the upgrade and the high capacity microwave network will be expanded to the rapidly growing area of Cannonvale and Airlie Beach.
“Licensed radio links are being rolled out using carrier grade network infrastructure that results in minimising costs and delivering a fast installation time-frame.”
The NGV network is backed by State Government owned Nexium, an Ergon Energy Company for their main internet backhaul.
NGV has expressed interest in expanding service offering by providing Wi-Fi internet to Cannonvale and Airlie Beach and delivering similar high-speed data communications to business interests around the Bowen and Collinsville areas.
The project is one of a series of transformative initiatives being rolled out by the Whitsunday Regional Council with a focus on increasing customer service and setting the standard in asset management.
Whitsunday Regional Council Executive Manager, Customer and Information Paul Fendley said it is an exciting time to be working in Council.
“In almost every part of the organisation, there’s a focus on innovative business improvements built upon the pragmatic use of new technologies.”
The Improvements include: real-time tracking of Fleet and Plant for safety and efficiency using GPS, CCTV in the rapidly growing regional airport and depots for security, Wi-Fi in main staff centres, public libraries and iconic public spaces, 24×7 on-line services including customer service requests, payments and planning application lodgements and a fundamental revision of the council main systems with the adoption of consistent, improved business processes.
“It is clear that Council is committed to taking innovative and cost effective approaches to utilising contemporary information technologies to deliver a modern customer service experience, best in class asset management and providing staff a better way to work,” Mr Fendley said.
