Vodafone New Zealand is spending hundreds of millions of dollars this year on digital infrastructure upgrades and construction – with Manawatū-Whanganui the first region to benefit.
The extensive programme will expand to other areas, from Northland to the South Island, over coming years as Vodafone NZ continues to invest in its network to provide the world-class mobile and internet experience customers have come to expect.
But it's the fast-growing Manawatū-Whanganui region whose rapid and sustained post-Covid recovery has seen Vodafone focus on helping that growth by encouraging further expansion through improved connectivity.
It's been growth that has caught many by surprise, dating back to late last year when Manawatū-Whanganui topped the ASB Regional Economic Scoreboard, with ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley saying the region's economy is more resilient than most: "Manawatū and Wanganui are less dependent on international tourism and should be able to manage the impacts of Covid-19 better than most, which is what we're seeing shine through this quarter."
It was a theme echoed by Palmerston North mayor in his state-of-the-city address in March, where he was reported as saying Palmerston North was recovering amazingly well from the pandemic lockdown last year, with its diverse economy stronger than ever. The population had grown to 90,400 by June 2020, with 52,200 jobs – quality jobs with average earnings above those in Tauranga and Dunedin and the national average. There was a real sense of continued employment momentum, he said.
Thaigan Govender, Vodafone's Head of Mobile Access Network agrees and says: "Better connectivity in growing areas of New Zealand like Manawatū-Whanganui not only makes such regions even more appealing and encourages further expansion, it allows those living and working there to thrive with greater ease."
Govender says Manawatū-Whanganui has now been upgraded, with new 4G and 5G sites around the region: "Palmerston North was the first cab off the rank for 5G" while, this month, 5G went live in Whanganui too, providing superfast data speeds in the hundreds of megabits per second range, and low latency or delay, making connections to favourite apps even more responsive.
The boost in speed and service quality for voice and data comes from Vodafone NZ's huge programme of works: "We have upgraded 24 sites to 4G, 4.5G and 5G. On top of that, 15 new cell sites were built in the area," Govender says.
This is in addition to 33 Rural Broadband Initiative 2 sites which were built together with the Rural Connectivity Group. The total now stands at 116 cell sites for Manawatū-Whanganui – a tripling of mobile capacity in the region.
As part of the upgrade programme, the backhaul data capacity that connects cell towers to Vodafone NZ's main network, and from there to the internet, has been substantially upgraded to ensure customers have the best possible user experience.
Almost everyone (97 per cent) in Manawatū-Whanganui can now connect to fast 4G; 40 per cent can access 5G. This will be a boon for internal tourism and an important safety net in the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing people to work "free-range" from home or wherever they happen to be, if they need to.
"Locals and visitors to the area can now enjoy the power of 5G and even faster connectivity to their smartphones or via 5G Broadband for high capacity internet," Govender says.
Importantly for a rural area where farmers and growers, and other businesses, need technology access to be environmentally friendly while remaining competitive, some 60 per cent of the geographic area can connect to Vodafone NZ's 4G and 5G Internet of Things (IoT) network.
"5G especially is a leap forward for IoT, bringing new types of sensors for monitoring and automated management which is especially great for agritech businesses," he says.
Residential wireless broadband customers will also benefit from Vodafone NZ's network upgrades: "Wireless broadband is very popular, with 100 per cent increase in data traffic, year on year."
Vodafone NZ recently announced unlimited wireless broadband plans, now available in 4G and 5G flavours in Manawatū-Whanganui – providing high speed connections without breaking the bank.
As little as $40 a month for the Gold Plan buys 60GB of data and phone service with a 12-month contract. People with a Vodafone Endless Data mobile plan receive a further $10 a month discount, making the Gold Plan truly affordable for low data users.
Digital natives who are always-on and don't want to think about metered usage have a choice between two unlimited plans on 12-month contacts: fast 4G service for $65 a month, or the even faster 5G plan for $79 a month, depending on their address.
Both unlimited plans come with Vodafone's SuperWifi wireless mesh technology for around-the-premises coverage, a router and, if you have a Vodafone Endless Data mobile plan, a $10 a month discount. A fair use policy applies to the unlimited plans, to protect overall network performance.
For more information, please visit vodafone.co.nz/5G