Huawei New Zealand: A decade of mobile networks

I write about Huawei New Zealand’s long-term role in the nation’s mobile sector for the New Zealand Herald.

Huawei has played a central role in New Zealand’s telecommunications infrastructure for a decade. The company’s New Zealand deputy managing director, Andrew Bowater, says it started working with 2degrees four years before the telco’s network was switched on in 2009.

The 2degrees partnership played a crucial role when in 2013, Telecom, now Spark, chose Huawei’s hardware to power its 4G mobile network. Bowater says; “We wouldn’t have won that without 2degrees, we wouldn’t be here today without them.”

That relationship cuts both ways. Huawei provided 2degrees with the money needed to build its network with a vendor finance arrangement. Bowater says the two companies passed an important milestone in 2013 when a local bank bought the debt off Huawei.

Huawei’s relationship with Spark went deep. The two worked together to break new ground, they were the first to use 700 MHz spectrum for a 4G mobile network. New Zealand got that ahead of the world. Likewise, they were early getting 4.5G technology to market.