Roaming returns with travel bubble, Northpower takes full fibre stake

Carriers restore roaming with trans-Tasman bubble

All three mobile carriers have moved to re-establish roaming as New Zealand and Australia open a travel bubble.

2degrees business customers with prepay and pay monthly plans can roam for free in Australia until July 31. This applies to data, calls and texts. Similar deals in the past have been restricted to consumers.

Vodafone says its customers can use 5G networks. There is a $7 charge per day, per device for travellers in Australia. The company has 5G roaming deals in 10 destinations which will kick into operation as wider international travel reopens.

Incoming roaming too

The company offers roaming on its, still limited, local 5G network to visitors comes here from Australia, China, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Taiwan.

This week Vodafone changed its network banner to a "VF Kia Ora" message to reflect this.

Spark has revived its pre-Covid roaming deal. Customers can buy add-on week-long bundles of texts, voice minutes and data for $20.

High mobile roaming margins

While roaming represents a small slice of each carriers' total revenue, the margins are high. This makes it a lucrative source of profit. One that was conspicuously absent when New Zealand closed its borders because of the Covid pandemic.

When discussing Spark's first half results earlier this year, CEO Jolie Hodson told analysts revenue was down 1.5 percent on the same period the previous year. She said most of this was due to the loss of higher margin mobile roaming revenue.

Last year the company estimated the loss of roaming was worth in the region of $50 million.

Likewise, when Vodafone laid off workers in mid 2020 as the pandemic bit, it issued a statement saying reduced roaming had a significant financial impact on the business.

First review of telco dispute scheme set

The Commerce Commission is preparing its first review of the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution Scheme (TDRS). Changes to the Telecommunications Act mean the Commission must review the scheme every three years. The first review will examine consumer awareness of the scheme and its ability to address systemic issues.

Northpower takes full ownership of fibre network

Northland electricity company Northpower has taken full ownership of Northpower Fibre. This week the company purchased the remaining shares owned by Crown Infrastructure Partners. Northpower Fibre was a joint venture formed with CIP to build the UFB fibre network, originally in Whangarei, then later in the Kaipara area.

Northpower Fibre is New Zealand's smallest fibre wholesale business. It has covered homes and businesses in Whangarei since 2014. More recently it has added Ruakaka, One Tree Point, Waipu, Dargaville, Mangawhai, Maungaturoto, Ruawai, Paparoa, Kaiwaka and Hikurangi.

Darren Mason, chief executive of Northpower Fibre Ltd, say: "Independent testing reveals that fibre continues to outclass other technologies across every measure, significantly outperforming fixed wireless and satellite technologies on speed and reliability."

Spark switches on 5G at Eden Park

Spark says it has worked with the Eden Park Trust to build 5G coverage for the stadium. It will switch part of the network on this Saturday before the stadium's first concert of the year.

Coverage will reach three quarters of the site. Spark says it will extend this over the coming months.

Mark Beder, Spark technology director says: “One of the key differences between 4G and 5G is its ability to enable mass connectivity, which will take us from a world of not just connecting people, but to a world of connecting almost anything."

This will be important at Eden Park where carriers have, at times in the past, used Cows (that's cellsites on wheels) to boost capacity for large events.

Vodafone reverses Australia travel warning

Vodafone has backed away from an earlier internal memo warning staff trapped in Australia by a fresh Covid outbreak could face dismissal. The memo said: "Employees should... understand that if they are prevented from returning to NZ and their home/work for an extended period beyond their original approved leave dates, their employment may be terminated."

Broadbent named Kordia chair as Quirk departs

Kordia's deputy chair, Sheridan Broadbent, is to replace outgoing chair John Quirk. Broadbent is a director of Transpower. Current Board member Sophie Haslem is the new Deputy Chair.