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From The Editor

THERE’S been a significant amount of community feedback following Telstra’s weeks of outages across the hinterland. The revelation that the upgrades were for capacity and 5G services now not coverage, stoked a level of annoyance as addressed in this week’s letters (p27).

An interesting perspective taken by one reader was the uproar when towers were being introduced to the area years ago. And the assertion that people power led to the placement of towers in less than ideal locations. That’s not to let Telstra off the hook for its abysmal lack of communication.

A well-timed ombudsman’s report into the failings of the telco industry has dropped at the same time.

It raises legitimate and confirmed issues that are very well known in the hinterland.

A discussion with local member for Fisher Andrew Wallace at the Maleny Commerce business breakfast on July 11 will make for an interesting morning.

Interestingly, Telstra has just this week signed a deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink to provide broadband and voice services.

Maleny residents particularly will know Starlink provide high quality broadband in an area that struggles to deliver with other services given the terrain. But with that reliability came a steep cost.

The question is what can Telstra add to

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Mitch Gaynor

the service that customers can’t get going directly through Starlink?

Pricing is yet to come, but ahead of this, you would imagine it will pay to do your homework.

Another big issue we’ve been reporting on is the camping at Beerwah Sportsground. Following our coverage of what has been nothing short of a debacle regarding the on, off, on again, off again, on occasionally camping rules, the Sunshine Coast Council chief executive officer has now called for a review of the situation.

It’s a sensible move, but a sensible outcome is not assured given recent decisions.

Finally, GC&M News has officially moved its office! We can now be found at 6/35 Swan Street, Beerwah - the Glasshouse Country Centre - so please head over and say g’day. While any move is stressful, going through all our old copies (and framing a few of our favourite covers) has been a nice journey and shows how far the publication and the region has come in the past 37 years.

Here’s to 37 more!