Vodafone New Zealand last week launched a commercial 700MHz 4G service in Papakura, a suburb of Auckland which is a approximately 32 kilometres south of Auckland CBD. The launch follows Vodafone's successful trial using the rural 700MHz 4G spectrum conducted at Lake Brunner on the West Coast of the South Island.
The 700MHz which delivers greater reach and better in-building coverage than other frequencies was freed up from the Government’s Digital Dividend auction.
“There’s no question that 4G – particularly in rural areas – will deliver economic benefit and have strong impacts for productivity. Our focus this year is about expanding our 4G network to rural New Zealand with 700MHz. We’ll be activating 4G wherever possible on new Rural Broadband Initiative sites this year. In addition to a progressive upgrade of our existing sites with 700MHz, we will also be building a number of new sites each year to further improve our coverage.”
- Sandra Pickering, Director of Technology, Vodafone
