Holyrood mayor tackles internet

By Craig Westcott/October 28, 2021

If you’ve driven through Holyrood lately, you may have noticed that some form of electronic interference is making listening to the radio station in some parts of the community nearly impossible.

But that isn’t the only communications problem the area is experiencing. Accessing the internet or finding a cellular phone signal is also a problem for many residents, according to Mayor Gary Goobie, who told his colleagues last week that the Town needs to press the issue with the companies that sell those services.

“During the election, this was a very dominant issue,” said Goobie. “There’s many areas in this community where coverage is absolutely terrible. We’re experiencing that down on Duff’s Straight, Country Path, over in North Arm – it’s all over. I don’t know what’s happening, but many residents have reached out and said, ‘What can we do, I can’t even get access to my internet.’ If they’re talking on the phone, they’ve got to move around in a certain part of the house. I mean this is 2021, the technology is there, and people are paying for these packages, and in some cases, people are paying a fair amount. So, they’re paying for a service that they’re not getting.”

Goobie noted the issue was raised with the previous council as well, in the hope the Town would place some pressure on the service providers.

“And if need be, I think we need to reach out to our MHA to address this at the provincial level,” Goobie added. “Keep in mind that Holyrood is a growing municipality, we’re on the outskirts of St. John’s… and here we are in many areas of the community experiencing terrible, if not no, coverage. I don’t have an answer. All I do know is these companies are very profitable and very successful and if they are going to provide a service for their customers, then they have to invest in the infrastructure with upgrades and enhancements to make sure that they do provide an adequate and acceptable level of service.”

Goobie said the Town needs to keep the pressure on.

“I literally heard it from hundreds of people during this election,” he said.