Info Image

Vodafone NZ Deploys First Five 5G Sites in Auckland Ahead of December Launch

Vodafone NZ Deploys First Five 5G Sites in Auckland Ahead of December Launch Image Credit: Vodafone

Vodafone NZ’s network team is celebrating a milestone of five completed 5G site upgrades, with live network testing now underway in Auckland.

Located in and around Mangere in South Auckland, the five cellsites feature upgraded Nokia technology, including 5G-enabled antennas, which will start to enable faster speeds and lower latency for Kiwi customers when New Zealand’s 5G network is switched on in December. 

The initial 100 existing cellsites that are being upgraded as part of the pre-launch phase will include inner-city mobile towers in popular and high-traffic locations such as business districts, shopping malls, event centres and airports.

The Vodafone NZ 5G launch has been enabled by the company’s existing spectrum asset, at the 3.5GHz frequency band, which the company has owned for many years. 

The Vodafone New Zealand 5G network upgrade program and follows similar rollouts by Vodafone in other countries including the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain all of whom are running live networks now. Innovative use cases that are emerging range from smart boats that tell you when they need fixing with 24/7 automated ticketing and real-time tracking at sea – to using 5G to help a blind skiier to conquer the slopes via her smartphone-holding guide.

Tony Baird, Technical Director, Vodafone NZ
The team is stoked to have passed this milestone. Five 5G-enabled sites is only just the start – we’re going to have at least 100 cellsites upgraded by December when we switch on our 5G network for customers to access. 

Author

Ray is a news editor at The Fast Mode, bringing with him more than 10 years of experience in the wireless industry.

For tips and feedback, email Ray at ray.sharma(at)thefastmode.com, or reach him on LinkedIn @raysharma10, Facebook @1RaySharma

PREVIOUS POST

Sprint Partners with Ericsson and Hitachi Vantara to Launch Advanced Video Analytics

NEXT POST

Sparkle Sets Up 5G Data Roaming Interconnection Between TIM and Etisalat