Launch of 4.5G brings record mobile speeds

Spark New Zealand Managing Director Simon Moutter introduces 4.5G in Christchurch today. Photo / Supplied

Spark and Huawei enabled the first 4.5G mobile site in New Zealand and reached record mobile data speeds.

A mobile data speed of 1.15Gbps (gigabits per second) was reached in a speed test done today at Spark's Hereford St exchange in Christchurch.

Spark said it was the fastest mobile data speed in New Zealand, and three times faster than the highest recorded speed on the Spark network.

4.5G is an evolution of the 4G network that had previously not been trialled or commercially available in New Zealand.

Spark New Zealand Managing Director Simon Moutter said 4.5G would give people a glimpse into the future of mobile.

"The faster speeds of 4.5G will truly help unleash more New Zealanders' potential, meeting our customer's demands to do more and wait less," Moutter said.

New technologies like 4K video and virtual and augmented reality would begin to be enabled on the 4.5G network, he said.

The new technology has been deployed on a combination of 2300MHz spectrum - only acquired by Spark a few weeks ago - and the existing 2600MHz and 700MHz range.

There are no phones or modems in New Zealand that currently support the full range of 4.5G features.

However, a number of devices including the Huawei P9, Samsung Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6s support some of the features that make up 4.5G, so customers with these devices will be able to access download speeds at least twice as fast, when they are connected to the Hereford Street mobile site.

Huawei South Pacific President David Wei said he was pleased to see the 4.5G network deployed in Christchurch.

"This is cutting-edge equipment which, until recently, could only be seen in pilots and in labs."

4.5G explained:
• Allows for much faster mobile data speeds
• Decreases latency (the delay between tapping on something and something happening)
• Some devices support some parts of the network, so devices can't use it to its full effect yet.
• People can connect to it in Christchurch.