But it is here to stay and is making calls easier to connect in the resort.
Residents of Lake Hayes Estate and Shotover Country came home last week to find a 16m-tall cellphone tower with a streetlight arm attached, on Eleventh Avenue.
The tower also features a red light beacon on the top of the cell site, which was added at the request of the hospital to help guide helicopters to the landing pad.
One Lake Hayes Estate resident said the tower was "an ugly and unsightly eyesore in our community".
Another resident described the tower as "obscene" and said it was visible from their home a couple of streets back from the tower.
Queenstown Lakes District Arrowtown-Kawarau ward councillor Melissa White said she was personally not a fan of the tower.
"Apparently there are some people that don’t have very good cellphone coverage here — so this is going to hopefully solve that for them.
"I just thought it could go in a slightly different place, but I didn’t have any luck with the provider in terms of changing it.
"I did try to convince them that maybe there would be a slightly better place for it kind of aesthetically, but unfortunately I was unsuccessful in being able to get it moved or anything like that."
Cr White said there was a possibility trees would be planted around it.
The tower was constructed by mobile tower infrastructure company Conexxa.
A Conexxa spokesperson said it was hired to make improvements to the mobile network for the Lake Hayes community due to there being more houses and businesses in the area, along with the increasing demand.
"Choosing where a cell site is located is a complex process— we follow a robust process where subject matter experts visit site locations to assess the local environment, ground conditions, access to power and fibre as well as mobile coverage requirements for the area," the spokesperson said.
Coverage is for all telecommunication companies.
"The location best meets all the technical requirements and delivers the best connectivity outcomes for the community. It is positioned on a hill and can see in all directions, allowing services to be available to the wider community."
The cell site had been granted a resource consent by Queenstown Lakes District Council.
