The winning bid saw Chorus add thousands of kilometres of fibre stretching its network into rural communities. Along the way it has connected fast broadband to hundreds of existing and new rural cellphone towers. From these towers Vodafone offers fixed wireless broadband services and increased mobile coverage covering farm buildings and paddocks.
Bidding for the RBI proved a timely investment. One of the hottest trends in technology at the moment is machine-to-machine communications or M2M. This will connect billions of sensors and devices to the global network in the so-called internet of things.
Stanners recalls a Federated Farmers conference where he told delegates every animal would be connected to Vodafone's network. There was some scepticism from the audience until the next speaker stood up to tell them his company made the ear-tags and there were already building-in RFID (a low cost radio-frequency identification technology).
It's not just animals. Stanners says every farm vehicle, machine and even many gates are already connected.
He says it costs about $20 to add a sensor to an animal. That includes a Sim card connecting to the mobile network. Because devices often don't need to transmit a lot of data they can use more cost-effective routes. If more power is needed, the latest wave of devices can use the fast 4G mobile network and are designed with batteries that can last 10 years.
Vodafone technology director Tony Baird says these devices operate in real time and can have millisecond latency (that's the time it takes between a signal and a response).
Tracking and sensor technology is increasingly important to farmers as overseas customers become more concerned about where their food comes from.
They may want to know where a leg of lamb came from or assurance that the chiller protecting a shipment of crayfish was working all the way from Cook Strait to Osaka.
The cost of tracking it through the entire cycle is a relatively small investment. Stanners says food security is a way farmers can add value. It's not just food, he says. People buying Icebreaker jackets can now learn where the wool in their clothes comes from.
There's also a move towards precision farming where mobile data and GPS systems make it possible to irrigate or add fertiliser with pin-point accuracy, making sure there's little waste.
Away from agriculture, the same technology can be used for services such as driverless cars. The faster chips with millisecond latency are essential here.
Vodafone customers in Australia use this to remotely operate giant trucks on the big mines -- in some cases from far away.
Even where there are humans in the driving cab, the technology helps. Cameras can monitor inside and outside the cab providing information to help truck owners reduce their insurance premiums.
Involvement in the RBI has seen Vodafone, previously seen as a largely urban phone company, move to become a full service telecommunications operation known nationwide.
Today you are as likely to see the brand on display at Field Days as in Queen St. "As a business, we've been focused on strengthening our support and services to rural New Zealand over the last five years," says Stanners.
He says Vodafone's technology works well with the rural sector. "Agriculture is by definition a mobile industry.
"The 4G cellular technology and the recently auctioned 700Mhz cellular spectrum are a good fit with rural users; in places the new cell towers can transmit to phones up to 22km away."
The next wave of agricultural innovation is likely to include drones, small pilotless planes which can take some of the burden in remote or difficult terrain.
Stanners says eventually drones could be used to deliver fertiliser.
