The 5G deployments are moving fast around the world. All the countries are trying to adopt 5G as soon as possible because of the new and advanced features that it will bring to various industries. New Zealand has also deployed the 5G network in some parts of the country.
What are the recent developments related to the 5G deployments in New Zealand?
Shahkar
Various telecom companies working on the deployment of 5G in New Zealand. Some of these companies include Spark, Nokia, Huawei (still under observation) and Vodafone.
Vodafone completed the most recent deployment of 5G in New Zealand. It deployed the 5G commercial networks in around 100 sites, across various cities including Auckland, Queenstown, Christchurch, and Wellington. Vodafone also commercially launched 5G smartphones service in New Zealand. Samsung has already launched the 5G mobile phone known as S10.
Vodafone is providing the 5G features without any extra charges till 30th June 2020. Afterwards, customers will have to pay an additional charge of $10/month to use the 5G network.
Telesignal
New Zealand has kept Huawei out from its 5G market due to the dispute between Huawei and the US.
Spark and Nokia partnered in November 2019, where Nokia is going to be responsible for providing its radio access network (RAN) to Spark 5G deployments. Nokia will also deploy its AirScale RAN solution at more than 200 Spark’s sites. The partnership with Spark shows the strength of Nokia in the deployment of 5G networks.
Nokia’s total contracts of 5G deployment around the world reached around 50, and presently it is powering 16 live 5G networks around the world.