Splendour In The Grass organisers have warned Telstra customers attending this year’s festival to come prepared for limited mobile phone coverage. Following a dispute with the Aussie telco, organisers say punters will struggle to make calls and download or upload data at Splendour 2014.
According to a statement by organisers, each mobile service company typically provides festivals with a Cell on Wheels (COW) tower to expand network coverage and capacity during big events like Splendour. Unfortunately, this year Telstra will not have any COWs at Splendour, majorly impacting their network coverage at the event.
After committing to providing free COWs as they did at Splendour 2013, Telstra reportedly withdrew their pledge and provided a pricey quote to supply the COWs. “While we are committed to providing you with the best Splendour experience possible, we are not in a position to pay many hundreds of thousands of dollars for a service that actually generates revenue for Telstra,” write festival organisers.
Telstra customers will now be left with “very limited” mobile coverage at Splendour 2014, though Optus and Vodafone customers can expect good reception through the provision of a COW, and in the case of Optus, a significant relay tower located at the venue.
Organisers suggest punters who are with Telstra print their event ticket and bring it with them to the venue, in lieu of relying on mobile coverage. Further information can be found on the Events page of the North Byron Parklands website.
