PARTNERSHIP NEWS
Connecting rural New Zealand New Zealand has some of the best broadband infrastructure in the developed world, but connecting rural areas presents significant challenges for both fixed and wireless broadband operators, due to the country’s mountainous terrain and dispersed populations, which massively drives up the cost of deploying telecommunications infrastructure. To help overcome this challenge, in 2011 the NZ Government set up the Rural Broadband Initiative, which gave 300,000 rural households improved broadband. Now, as part of phase two of the initiative, New Zealand’s three mobile network operators (MNOs) have come together to form a worldfirst operation – the Rural Connectivity Group (RCG). Through this partnership, at least 34,000 rural homes and businesses, 1,400km of State Highway and over 160
tourist destinations will gain wireless broadband and 4G mobile coverage by December 2022 – something MNOs could not have undertaken on their own. Through operators sharing the cost of infrastructure, wireless broadband has already proven to be a great solution for connecting rural New Zealand. While laying several kilometres of cable to reach one household may be unfeasible, wireless broadband works by connecting several customers to the nearest cell tower. Spark’s Technology Director, Mark Beder says Spark has approximately 165,000 customers on wireless broadband already, which demonstrates the scale and popularity of this product across New Zealand. “Wireless broadband is a great product for customers with moderate data needs, who typically use broadband for things like watching Netflix and surfing the web. Currently, only about
2 percent of our broadband customers are high data users, using broadband for things like online gaming, ultrahigh def streaming and downloading multiple large files. "Also because Spark owns the network, customers can get end-to-end support, rather than dealing with multiple parties if they have a fault.” Because each cell tower has a certain amount of capacity available, which is shared by wireless broadband and mobile customers, data caps are put in place to ensure customers have a great experience and to prevent the cell tower becoming overloaded. Mark says that while Spark already offers the highest caps for wireless broadband of all MNO’s for rural customers, it has a long-term goal of offering unconstrained capacity for all New Zealanders. “It’s a challenge Spark can’t solve on its own overnight, but by working collaboratively with Government and the broader industry, we will continue to move toward better access and affordability for rural NZ.” Spark recently expanded its ‘urban priced’ Unplan wireless broadband plan into parts of rural New Zealand. Now 30,000 rural addresses are eligible for the more affordable plan, reducing costs for residents by up to $71 a month, if their usage stays the same. Mark says Spark isn't able to offer the cheaper plan to all of rural NZ at this stage due to capacity restraints, but that it is a positive step forward in improving internet affordability for rural NZ.
| Wireless broadband and 4G mobile coverage in remote parts of New Zealand is one step closer, thanks to the combined efforts of the Rural Connectivity Group.
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Article supplied by Spark Image supplied by Andy Madill, Connect 8
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