Vodafone launches 5G in four New Zealand cities

Vodafone flips 5G switch in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown

Vodafone switched on 5G operations on 100 cell towers in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown. The company says New Zealand is the 22nd country to get commercial 5G services.

At the launch event Vodafone chief executive Jason Paris told guests the 5G service will let customers see “potentially 5-10 times the current 4G speeds”.

Journalists testing the network at the launch clocked download speeds of around 500 mbps, but were restricted to 4G for uploads, that's typically less than 20 mbps. This falls short of the gigabit speeds promised by 5G hardware vendors.

Higher speeds next year?

Higher and more symmetric speeds will have to wait until the next government spectrum auction which is expected to happen later next year. When that happens Spark will be able to begin 5G services in earnest. Today Spark only has a small fixed wireless 5G operation in parts of the South Island.

In the long term Vodafone plans to have 1500 5G sites offering gigabit download speeds.

For now Vodafone's 5G service is available at no extra cost. Vodafone says it will charge 5G an extra $10 a month from July next year. The company has also begun selling two Samsung 5G enabled handsets. Prices start at $1400. More handsets are on the way, but it will be a year before most new phones are 5G ready.

Last year Vodafone said it wasn't in a hurry to launch 5G. That was before Paris was appointed CEO and the business was sold to NZX-listed Infratil and Canadian investment company Brookfield. Paris said the new owners were willing to bring forward investment.

Ultrafast Fibre testing 10 Gbps broadband

Ultrafast Fibre plans to test internet speeds of up to 10 Gbps early in the New Year. The Central North Island fibre company says six retail service providers have expressed interest in a trial which will see customers offered 2 Gbps and 4 Gbps services. UFF says there's a proven demand for faster fibre; last month three in ten new customers opted for 1 Gbps services.

Flooding cuts South Island telecommunications services

Thousands of South Island Spark customers were cut off last weekend after storms hit the region. The company's fibre cable connecting Ashburton to Timaru was severed during a flood. Engineers had difficulty repairing the cable because of the floods and road closures. This affected broadband, landline and cell towers.

Spark patched the connection with a workaround, but the company's services remained vulnerable. Vodafones network was not affected so mobile users were able to make emergency calls. A section of Chorus fibre was also damaged at Fox Glacier on the West Coast after a slip.

Minister for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Kris Faafoi says a new fibre cable is on the way to help reduce this kind of problem. He says the Provincial Growth Fund plans to build a fibre route closing a South Island loop between Fox Glacier and Lake Hawea.

Faafoi also says the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is reviewing the resilience of the telecommunications network in the event of natural disasters.

Commerce Commission tweaks TDL for final decision

The Commerce Commission's final decision on how much telcos will each pay towards the government's $50 million Telecommunications Development Levy included a couple of minor changes.

The contributions for Vital and MyRepublic were decreased which means the other 14 telcos will pay a little more than outlined in the draft decision.

Between them Spark, Vodafone, Chorus and 2degrees still get to pay more than 90 percent of the total levy. MyRepublic was rapped over the knuckles for failing to get its information to the commission before the statutory deadline.

Sky adds Prime to Freeview

Sky's free-to-air Prime channel will now be available in high definition through Freeview. The company will also add the streaming version of its Prime channel to Freeview. Until now, the HD version of Prime was only available to Sky and Vodafone TV customers.

Spark Sport to show American Football

Spark Sport has signed a partnership with the NFL and will show next year's Super Bowl live. It will also show a selection of NFL games for the rest of the 2019-20 season.