Electronic sign a score for club

Optus announced it officially switched on its mobile site in Davenport on Friday as chief executive officer Allen Lew visited Hands Oval to present the club with a digital display board.

The new site was part of a $6.1 million commitment by the telecommunications provider to improve network coverage across Bunbury and the South West.

Mr Lew said Optus remains committed to connecting and improving mobile coverage in regional locations.

“At Optus, we’re absolutely focussed on improving our network right across Western Australia, but especially in the South West, which is why I’m so pleased to be here in the city of Bunbury following through on that commitment by switching on our new mobile site at Davenport,” he said.

“Optus already has a strong 4G network in Bunbury and, as the second largest city in WA, we recognise it’s vital that local residents and business owners not only have access to fast and effective mobile services but that they have a choice in telecommunications providers, and Optus is here to offer that choice,” Mr Lew said.

In the past 12 months the provider has invested $3.7 million in Bunbury, Busselton, Augusta and Margaret River to build five new sites and upgrade four existing mobile sites with the latest 4G technology.

The site at Davenport is the third new site Optus has built and switched on in Bunbury after sites at Bunbury Jetty and Gelorup were completed last year, and sites at Dalyellup and Lake Clifton were upgraded.

Mr Lew also handed over a 3m by 3m digital display board from Electronic Signage Australia to replace the hand operated scoreboard used for 120 years.

Club vice president Leigh Wright said the gift would allow the club to better communicate with its supporters.

“It allows us to relate better with our sponsors, we can acknowledge events within the football club and the football community that are coming up and we can also acknowledge milestones for individual players and team aspects,” he said.

“With this we can have someone sitting in comfort in the stands operating it by a laptop, where as for 120 years we have had people out there with tin numbers sitting out there in the rain and the wind.”

The scoreboard will be placed on a trailer to make it portable, allowing other club teams, including the juniors, to make use of it.

“In junior sport I have never seen anything like this anywhere, so it will be pretty new and exciting for those guys,” Mr Wright said.