New Zealand's 4K TV era begins as Kordia demos Freeview

Kordia has begun broadcasting demonstration 4K Ultra High Definition TV on its own Freeview channel. The first official broadcast was on Wednesday morning at the Media Pacific Conference in Auckland.

Dean Brain, Kordia's head of media says his company used its existing Digital Terrestrial Technology to broadcast 4K material. Brain says he believes this is the most reliable option.

It's not the first 4K TV seen in New Zealand, both Netflix and Amazon offer some streaming content using the format.

4K ultra high definition now an option

Brain says the demonstration shows it is now an option for local broadcasters. "Our ultimate hope is that local broadcasters will get as excited as we are about 4K technology; and that they will move faster to bring 4K content to their viewers.

Seeing is believing. We hope that by giving people a taste of just how incredible the 4K viewing experience is, it will help move things along a bit faster”, he says.

Kordia has more plans to raise awareness of 4K broadcasting among broadcasters, consumers and people in related industries. The company says it will feature a range of 4K material on its own TV Channel. You can find this on Freeview channel 201. It's viewable in Auckland but needs a Freeview UHF antenna and a set-top box or TV able to handle a DVB T2 and a HEVC signal.

Among other programming there is a range of documentaries from Blue Ant Media and a number of lifestyle shows.

Network for Learning upgrades

Network for Learning has upgraded its school managed network service. The upgrade includes combined firewall and internet filtering tools from Fortinet. Among other things the upgrade will help schools deal with student attempts to bypass internet filtering by using virtual private networks. This is an increasing problem and apart from the problems with students seeing unfiltered content, the VPNs consume a lot of bandwidth.

There is also greater protection against threats such as phishing and ransomware. The last of these upgrades came too late to protect Hāwera High School which, earlier this week, was hit with a US$5000 demand to unlock student course work files.

Telecommunication Dispute Resolution report highlights telco performance

Billing remains the largest source of complaints for Telecommunications Dispute Resolution. In the latest quarterly report it accounted for almost four in ten complaints to the body. The TDR says complains and enquiries about disputed charges are rising.

Customer service and faults were the next two biggest sources of complaint. Fibre installation made up around 7 percent of complaints and network performance less than five percent.

The latest report offers data about the various companies. In the past raw numbers were reported, this time the TDR shows the number of complaints per 10,000 connections. On that basis Vocus and Trustpower are the most complained about while Vodafone, 2degrees and Spark (in that order) all picked up one or less complaints per 10,000 connections.

In the first quarter of 2018, TDR received a total of 666 complaints and enquiries. This is a comparatively lower number than similar schemes in other industries and countries, particularly when it is put into the context of the number of connections managed by the industry.

Geoff Thorn, CEO of the NZ Telecommunications Forum says the numbers for local service providers compare favourably when measured against their overseas counterparts.

2degrees refinances

2degrees' parent company, US-based Trilogy International Partners say it has increased the company's debt. It refinanced the existing $200 million debt and increased it to $250 million. The arrangement $35m facility which Trilogy could fund capital expenditures.

In a statement from Trilogy, 2degrees chief executive Stewart Sherriff said the refinancing is another vote of confidence in the company. He says: "...lenders are effectively validating our business case. The new loan provides borrowing capacity for further investments in the 2degrees business."

Sky offers lower cost Neon package

Sky has a lower cost version of its Neon streaming service aimed at binge viewing customers. The TV show-only version of Neon is $12 a month. Sky also offers a $20 a month version of Neo which includes TV shows and movies.

The price is important. International rival Netflix has a basic $11.50 package and charges $15 for its standard version. The premium Netflix service is $18.50. Spark's Lightbox service has $13 and $16 options.

Nokia signs huge 5G deal

Nokia and T-Mobile have inked a US$3.5 billion agreement to build a nationwide 5G network in the US. It's a soup-to-nuts deal that includes end-to-end 5G technology, software and services. Nokia will build the 5G network with 600 MHz and 28 GHz millimetre wave 5G capabilities. It will comply with the 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR) standards.