Telcos are looking to give Kiwis better coverage over the holiday period. Photo/123RF.
Telcos are looking to give Kiwis better coverage over the holiday period. Photo/123RF.
For most Kiwis, "going off the grid" means walking to the dairy and back without their phone.
We get nervous when away from a cell signal for longer periods as we start to get that itch to check our email - or Facebook that feed of fish and chips in the Coromandel.
Hence Spark and Vodafone are reinforcing mobile coverage around holiday hotspots and music festival locations this summer.
Vodafone says its spending more than $2 million upgrading cell sites around festivals including Northern Bass, Rhythm & Vines, Christmas in the Park, Bay Dreams Nelson and Gibbston Valley Concert, plus destinations like Omaha, Castlepoint, Kerikeri, Cook Strait and Gisborne.
For its part, Spark says its adding six "cows" (cell sites on wheels) to its "herd" of temporary transmitters, as well as six "cops"(cell sites on platforms).
The telco now has a total of 32 cows and cops.
Andrew Ferrier-Kerr, who is responsible for the herd, says, "Spark will be providing coverage for the first time at a number of new venues. Gigs like UB40, and Fat Boy Slim are hosted on remote vineyards that haven't got the coverage and capacity required to service an extra 15,000 people."
• Fernhill, Queenstown (brand new site for additional capacity)
• Kaiapoi south (brand new site for additional capacity)
• Meadowstone (brand new site for additional capacity)
• Ward, South Island (brand new site for coverage)
A spokeswoman for 2degrees said the telco would boost capacity around camping grounds, beaches and festivals. The telco still uses a domestic roaming deal with Vodafone to cover gaps in its network.
Two of Spark's "cows" (cell sites on wheels) at Addington Raceway in Christchurch. Each has a 15m mast.
The Government is also chipping in with the $150m Rural Broadband Initiative 2 (RBI2), which includes $50m to help fill mobile black spots on the West Coast and other holiday and tourism hotspots.
The RBI 2 tender was won by a joint bid from Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees, who formed a vehicle called the Rural Connectivity Group for the project - which will run through to 2022.
But while mobile coverage is expanding in holiday areas, not everyone is a happy camper.
Lodge owner Louis van Wyk says Vodafone's coverage "in and around Tongariro National Park remains shocking despite tens of thousands of visitors to the area all year round."
Van Wyk says Spark at least has coverage at the start and end of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing and better coverage in the area in general.
Tongariro is not on the most recent list of sites to get boosted coverage under RBI2.
But Vodafone says it has its own plans to upgrade in the area.
