Rural Broadband: Vodafone Pumps 4G Speed

Much is developing since Telecom (now Spark) and Vodafone won contracts back in 2011 to arm rural New Zealand homes, schools and businesses with broadband. The original terms of the contract were that at least 86 percent of rural houses and businesses were to receive peak downlink broadband speeds of 5 megabits per second. Times have changed, and a shift to 4G means that speed is now being exceeded for many. As such, as many as 100,000 rural families and businesses can now access "fibre-like" speeds, with some experiencing up to 100Mbps!

Vodafone has been busy - more than 200 towers have now been built or upgraded to 4G in quest for a minimum of 50Mbps connectivity nationwide by 2025. Spark has invested heavily in 2015 and intends to roll out an upgraded mobile service with even more coverage. 

The prospects of rural New Zealand internet jumping into world-leading speeds is indeed a world away from the dial-up that seemed to be the status quo up until 2010.  New Zealand homes, schools and businesses can now look forward to fastest in the world  as the RBI has a target of delivering speeds of at least 50Mbps by 2025 to virtually every New Zealander.