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Spark says the number of households on its Skinny Jump programme, which offers free or subsidised internet, has surged - which the telco puts down to "Kiwis feeling the pinch from the cost-of-living crisis".
Jump provided wireless broadband for about 4000 households pre-Covid.
By August last year, that had jumped to 15,000, in part because of the pandemic remote learning boom.
This morning, Spark reported 22,000 Jump connections.
"While Kiwis across the country are feeling the squeeze of rising inflation, for some households these extra costs could mean having to choose between buying food to feed the family or paying the power bill to keep warm in winter," Spark CEO Jolie Hodson says.
"Unfortunately, for many of these households having an internet connection at home can be a luxury they just can't afford."
Hodson adds: "Not being able to get online is no longer just an inconvenience – it means missing out on access to key services such as online banking, not being able to work remotely and kids falling behind at school."
Spark has just bumped up Jump data allowances.
Eligible students in low decile schools and new refugees can access Jump for free for a year.
Others get their first 15 gigabytes of data free. 35GB of data costs $5 a month, with up to six top-ups allowed (up to 225GB for $30 a month - or enough for regular school and remote office work, plus light Netflix streaming).
Late last year, UFB fibre network operator Chorus said the average Auckland household had increased its monthly data use from 379GB a month to 619GB a month between October 2019 and October 2021, while the average Northland household had increased from 274GB to 334GB a month over the period.
As Jump is a subsidised broadband product for communities in need, it is not available in-store or online, but via a network of around 300 community partners across the country, Spark says, including libraries and community centres. Partners are listed at skinny.co.nz/jump.
The telco encourages talking to a Jump community partner about eligibility, but that those "probably eligible" include:
• Families with children in low decile areas
• Job seekers
• Seniors
• People with disabilities
• Refugees and migrant communities
• Those in social housing
Last year Spark Foundation launched two programmes that offer Jump free to eligible households:
• The Ciena Jump for Students Fund which gives eligible students from Deciles 1 to 5 schools a free Skinny Jump wireless modem and broadband connection – including 210GB of free data a month. More than 300 students across NZ use this service, the telco says.
• The Awhi Matihiko: Red Cross Digital Settlement Package, a collaboration between the Spark Foundation, New Zealand Red Cross, InternetNZ and the Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa, which offers new refugees Skinny Jump (with data paid for 12 months), a Chromebook laptop and, if required, digital skills training.
"We know that internet access isn't a silver bullet that's going to solve digital equity on its own," Hodson says.
"But for the one in five Kiwis who may be facing digital exclusion, it gets them to the starting line. Ultimately, having affordable access means more Kiwis have an opportunity to participate in the digital world."
Although Jump connections increased 58 per cent to 15,000 in 2021, Spark said in its annual report it was shooting for more.
"Our aspiration for FY21 was to reach 20,000 homes, however this target was not achieved. We proactively manage the number of wireless broadband customers we have by location, to ensure all customers have a good user experience on our network. During the year we discovered that some areas of need are at capacity. To remedy this, we are
prioritising the rollout of our 5G network in these areas, and upgrading 4G at the
same time, to boost capacity for Skinny Jump in FY22."
Spark's ongoing 5G upgrades seem to have delivered the desired capacity boost.
This morning, a spokeswoman for the telco said there is no ceiling on the number of households that could be added to the Jump programme, if they meet the eligibility criteria.
Wireless broadband is a cheaper, easier-to-install alternative to a UFB fibre landline, suitable for households with light to moderate internet use. It uses a mobile network to deliver broadband via a special modem, which is then shared by Wi-Fi.
To see the Commerce Commission's ranking of different broadband technologies, go to: here.)
Telcos have offered a range of relief measures during the pandemic, with Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees abolishing data caps and relaxing credit terms for a period, while Chorus delayed wholesale price increases.
The Government made $87 million available for computers and internet under a pandemic measure to support 82,000 homes with school-aged children who were not online as the country went into its first lockdown in March 2020, sending about 17,000 modems dispatched. The programme was criticised for delays, and reports of hundreds of modems going to wealthy schools that didn't need them, while InternetNZ said it was disappointed at Budget 2021's "lack of digital inclusion policy" - an area that again got scant attention in Budget 2022.
'I regret these documents were not simply sourced and provided at the time' - Cooper