Mobile data use in Northland soars as region packed for New Year's Eve

People flocked to Northland's beaches over the New Year Holiday - such as Matapouri, above - and mobile data usage soared in the region as a result. Photo / Tania Whyte

Northlanders and visitors to the region were keen to stay in touch on New Year's Eve, with five of Vodafone's 20 most used cell towers in the region.

This New Year's Eve saw New Zealanders turn online in massive numbers, with data used across Vodafone NZ's mobile networks up by about 80 per cent compared to last year.

Vodafone New Zealand head of platforms Sharina Nisha said the company had been preparing for the massive surge, particularly after the 52 per cent spike over Christmas - but that this was an exceptional increase and likely due to people turning to online celebrations with whānau and friends overseas as a result of Covid-19.

While Vodafone could not provide exact numbers regionally, it provided the top 20 cell sites to the Northern Advocate, which revealed that five were in Northland.

The most used cell tower on the night was at Matarangi in the Coromandel, followed by Whitianga Central and Whangamata South.

The Mangawhai central cell tower came in at number seven on the list, with Marsden Pt at number nine, Cape Karikari at 16, Kaitaia at 18 and Mangawhai's Cullen St at 19.

Nationally Vodafone customers consumed 630 terabytes (TB) of mobile data over the New Year's Eve period, compared to 350 TB during the same period on New Year's 2019/20.

Volume wise, that's roughly equivalent to streaming 420,000 hours of high-definition video (based on 1080p at 1.5GB per hour).

Mobile data use soared in Northland on New Year's Eve.

"It's no surprise that smartphones are now the communication method of choice, and the events of 2020 have seen us all turn to technology to continue to work, live and play remotely - and it was especially evident this New Year's Eve as Kiwis celebrated with loved ones digitally," Nisha said.

Kiwis also sent a staggering number of SMS messages of New Year's cheer, with almost one million texts sent around midnight. However this was a decrease of around 11 per cent year-on-year, as people continue to turn to applications that use data such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, she said.

"To prepare for this data surge, and ensure continued connectivity for Vodafone customers over the holiday period, throughout 2020 we've been adding 4G capacity in lots of areas around Aotearoa. We had a particular focus on upgrading our cell sites all around regional NZ - from Russell to Arrowtown, and Wanaka to Whitianga - to prepare for this bumper summer season.''

The New Year's Eve data traffic volumes were measured between 8pm on December 31 and 11pm on January 1.