A deal between the government and telecommunications companies will accelerate the roll-out of the 5G network to 55 regional towns.
Announcing the arrangement, Minister for the Digital Economy and Communications Ginny Andersen said the deal with NZ’s three major network operators – Spark, 2Degrees and One New Zealand – will ensure rural and regional towns get access to faster data transmission speeds and capacity and fewer black spots than the current 4G.
In return the government will provide long-term access to the 3.5GHz spectrum band, used for 5G services worldwide, through a direct allocation process.
It is through this that the 5G network will be expanded and improved throughout regional and rural NZ.
The three major operators will each receive 80 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5GHz band, sufficient to operate nationwide 5G networks.
The Interim Māori Spectrum Commission will receive 100 MHz of spectrum, which will be managed on behalf of all Māori.
