Haast and parts of the surrounding highway on the West Coast will get cellphone coverage this year, after community concerns about help arriving too late in emergencies.
Haast River Valley. Photo: 123RF
Based along State Highway 6, the town is in the middle of a 244km long mobile coverage black spot that runs from Fox Glacier to Lake Hawea.
Locals say the black spot means people involved in serious accidents can't use their cellphones to call for help.
Communications Minister Clare Curran announced a 3G cell tower would be operational in the town by the end of May as an interim solution, and six to eight small roadside mobile sites would be placed along the highway by the end of the year.
"The Haast area and the highway is one of the most remote parts of the country, very high traffic, very high tourism but no mobile connectivity.
"Which has become seriously a big issue, particularly for emergency services."
The construction of the cell tower and roadside mobile sites is expected to cost about $900,000, with yearly operating costs of about $1 million.
"This government has heard the community's concerns about public safety issues caused by no mobile service, and over summer we've seen the impact a lack of mobile connectivity can have in an isolated community which has a lot of tourism."
Ms Curran said a long term solution using 4G mobile technology would be in place by 2022.
She said the West Coast town was one of more than 100 rural communities set to get cellphone coverage in the next six years, as part of a Mobile Black Spot Fund that had been announced by the previous government in 2014.
Haast senior police constable Paul Gurney said the move would help make emergency services more effective.
He said medical attention within the first hour of an accident could make a huge difference in someone's recovery, even preventing death in some cases.
"Can be a car crash, could be a driving complaint, it could be 'I've seen someone else floating down the river out to sea'.
"We can get those calls straightaway, where before they either wouldn't come in or there would be a huge time delay."
Mr Gurney expected he would become busier with the cellphone reception, as people would be more likely to call incidents in if they could do it conveniently on their mobile phones.
Haast business owner and St John volunteer Blair Farmer said having reception would make the town more of a destination for tourists.
"They believe that if there is no reception nothing exists here so they just drive on through, and Haast has so much to offer here with the way of our wilderness and our rivers and our wildlife," Mr Farmer said.
