The New Zealand government is signing contracts with major telecommunications network operators to speed up the rollout of 5G to regional towns, especially rural black spot areas, across New Zealand.

The government said it was committed to ensuring that everyone in New Zealand could access good mobile wireless coverage, no matter where they were, Minister for Digital Economy and Communications Ginny Andersen said on Friday.

The government has struck a bespoke deal with New Zealand’s three major network operators: Spark, 2Degrees and One New Zealand.

According to Andersen, the network operators will deliver a faster rollout of 5G services to around 55 rural and regional towns across New Zealand and provide mobile wireless coverage to further rural black spot areas.

“By working together with our major mobile network operators, many more Kiwis will gain access to 5G services quicker, which is expected to provide faster data transmission speeds and capacity compared to 4G,” she said.

The minister said this deal is a huge step forward for rural New Zealand regarding connectivity.

In return for the commitments from the major network operators, the government will provide long-term access to the 3.5GHz spectrum band used for 5G services worldwide through a direct allocation process.

Mr Anderson added that this exchange provides an opportunity to expand and improve regional and rural New Zealand coverage.

She added that New Zealand’s three major operators will each receive 80 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5GHz band, which is sufficient for them to operate nationwide 5G networks. 

(Xinhua/NAN)