Voice volumes surge as New Zealand enters lockdown

Covid-19 drives record traffic, call volumes and urgent telco response

New Zealand voice networks recorded the highest call volumes in history this week. There was a peak on Tuesday following Prime Minister Jacinda Arden’s announcement that the Covid–19 alert level was being raised from two to four and the country would begin a four-week lockdown.

All carriers experienced congestion and government call centres were overloaded with enquiries. The congestion affected both mobile networks and Spark’s landline calling network.

A Spark spokesperson says: “Following the prime minister’s Covid–19 announcement today, telecommunications providers experienced call volumes beyond any level of calling ever seen in New Zealand. This is creating significant congestion for voice calling at an industry-wide level.”

The TCF spoke for the industry saying telecommunications companies were working quickly and collaboratively to fix the issues arising from congestion.

Keep voice lines free

Carriers called on phone users to switch digital communications technologies using the nation’s fibre network to free up voice lines.

Customer service teams struggled to cope, in part because overseas call centres were closed or reduced in order to protect staff from infection risks, but also because of much high call volumes.

Vodafone issued a plea to its customers to use the company’s mobile app, chatbot and website where possible to reduce the load on call centre staff. Customers were also directed to contact the company’s social media team which extended their hour to cope with the extra demand.

The company says: “Due to precautionary measures in New Zealand and internationally, our customer care teams are managing the impacts of Covid–19 while dealing with higher call volumes. We have major call centres in different offices in New Zealand and India, and a small specialist customer care team in the Philippines – and while we’re able to redirect work and calls for some customers between them, we are also planning for future impacts including what we can expect will be further increased restrictions on movement in cities worldwide.”

Chorus network hits 2.84Tbps

Traffic on Chorus’ fibre network hit a new record peak on Thursday at 2.84Tbps. The company says this is comfortably within the network’s available headroom of 3.5Tbps. It says this is 24 percent above the normal baseline. While traffic continues to increase, Chorus says it expects it to reach a steady state as the Covid–19 lockdown settles down.

Daytime network traffic is much higher than before the virus outbreak. Yesterday the traffic at noon was 1.99Tbps, roughly double the traffic before the crisis.

Chorus defers capex during lockdown

Chorus says it will cut its previously announced capex by suspending non-essential field activity to reduce Covid–19 risks. This will reduce the 2020 capex guidance by $50 million. Previously the guidance ranged from $660 to $700 million.

The company will continue to connect premises to copper and fibre where there is no existing fixed line, it will suspend the Ultrafast Broadband (UFB) communal rollout, subdivision build, proactive pole replacement, non-essential network relocation, renewal and maintain service activity unless the network is at risk of immediate failure, and door-to-door fibre campaigns.

Commerce Commission relaxes industry co-operation rules

Commerce Commission chair Anna Rawlings says the regulator does not plan to take Commerce Act enforcement action against businesses cooperating to provide essential goods and services. This applies to the otherwise closely monitored telecommunications sector as well as other industries. However, that does not mean all safeguards are suspended.

She says: “If you need to work with your competitors to share staff or distribution networks or take other measures to ensure security of supply, you are able to do this. However, the commission will not tolerate unscrupulous businesses using Covid–19 as an excuse for non-essential collusion or anti-competitive behaviour. This includes sharing information on pricing or strategy where it isn’t necessary in the current situation.”

Chorus: Essential infrastructure now priority, prices on hold

Chorus says it will prioritise fault repair on its network in coming weeks. The government has named the broadband network as an essential service.

Chorus CEO JB Rousselot says; “Given our status as a lifeline, we will prioritise repairing faults as quickly as possible, and connecting locations where no other form of fixed line connectivity is available. We will continue to perform connections and upgrades in locations that already have a fixed line connection, but only if field resources are available.

“We have put a number of controls in place to identify situations where customers may be self-isolating, and any technicians who display any signs of illness are stood down and put into self-isolation immediately, along with their close contacts."

Chorus also says it has postponed the annual CPI price increase for its wholesale broadband products until further notice. The planned price cut, which sees a gigabit connection fall from $60 to $56 will go ahead on July 1.

Telcos move to no-contact stores

Telco-branded retail stories are regarded as essential services.

While the physical stores will closed during the Covid–19 lockdown, the TCF says telcos plan to use the stores as no-contact distribution points.

Rural Connectivity Group in IDC’s Asia Pacific Smart Cities Award shortlist

Four New Zealand projects made the shortlist in IDC’s Asia Pacific Smart Cities Award shortlist including the Rural Connectivity Group. Another finalist is Frenzy, an application that lets commuters earn money viewing advertising while travelling on buses or trains. Christchurch City Council has two projects: Smart Water and Earthquake Response Management.

VodafoneTV gets timely accessibility update

An update to Vodafone TV, the company’s streaming software device, allows customers to switch on subtitles where available. The update also introduces visual fast-forward and rewind as well as access to the YouTube Kids service.

Microsoft reports spike in Teams use

Microsoft says its Teams collaboration software had 32 million daily active users early in March, by last week this had climbed to 44 million. This makes it Microsoft’s fastest-growing business app ever.

HMD Global launches Nokia branded 5G phone

HMD Global, which licences the Nokia phone brand launched the Nokia 8.3 5G, its first 5G phone. The phone uses Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 765G chipset and supports radio frequency bands ranging from 600MHz up to 3.8GHz. It does not support millimetre-wave 5G.