New Zealand govt to speed up 5G rollout

The New Zealand government is signing contracts with major telecommunications network operators to speed up the rollout of 5G to regional towns, especially rural black spots, across New Zealand.

The government said it was committed to ensuring that everyone in New Zealand could get access to good mobile wireless coverage, no matter where they were, as Minister for Digital Economy and Communications Ginny Andersen said on Friday.

The government has struck a bespoke deal with New Zealand’s three major network operators, namely Spark, 2Degrees, and One New Zealand.

According to Andersen, the network operators will deliver a faster rollout of 5G services to around 55 rural and regional towns across New Zealand and provide mobile wireless coverage to further rural black spots.

“By working together with our major mobile network operators, many more Kiwis will gain access to 5G services quicker, which is expected to provide faster data transmission speeds and capacity compared to 4G,” she said.

This deal is a huge step forward for rural New Zealand when it comes to connectivity, the minister said.

In return for the commitments from the major network operators, the government will provide long-term access to the 3.5 GHz spectrum band used for 5G services worldwide through a direct allocation process.

This exchange provides an opportunity to expand and improve coverage in regional and rural New Zealand, Anderson added.

She added that New Zealand’s three major operators will each receive 80 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band, which is sufficient for them to operate nationwide 5G networks.