Telecommunications company Spark has obtained the spectrum it needs to continue to rollout its 5G mobile services, in exchange for an investment of $24 million in rural and provincial network upgrades.
Spark signed a deal for a direct allocation of C-band mobile spectrum from the government under a new model where the revenue was directly invested into accelerated mobile network upgrades that benefit provincial and rural communities.
The terms of the agreement, announced last October, provided Spark with long-term spectrum management rights to 80 MHz of 3.5 GHz (or C-band) spectrum from 1 July.
In return, Spark will invest in extending rural connectivity and 5G services to provincial centres, via the Rural Connectivity Group and through an acceleration of its own 5G rollout.
Spark will invest $24m in funding to the Rural Connectivity Group between 2023 and 2025, which will support the expansion of mobile coverage further into rural areas and address mobile black spots on state highways.
The company also committed to accelerating deployment of its 5G network to 27 sites in 25 regional towns using the allocated C-band spectrum that it would not otherwise have built under its existing commercial deployment plans.
"When you consider the challenges we are facing as a country, there is an important role for technology to play in helping us do things differently," Spark chief executive Jolie Hodson said.
"We want to support the creation of high-tech solutions that improve productivity, efficiency, and sustainability across our economy, and the rollout of 5G is a critical enabler of this."
Spark will also commit an additional $40m-$60m to the development of 5G standalone over the next three years, which was expected to offer new services to support business innovation.
"We are also pleased to see spectrum allocation revenue directly invested into connectivity in provincial and rural New Zealand," Hodson said, adding Spark planned to expand 5G connectivity to all towns with a population of more than 1,500 people by the end of June 2026.
"We are really pleased to finalise this agreement with government, which provides us with the certainty we need to continue investing in 5G and delivering these connectivity benefits to Aotearoa New Zealand."