Rural Connectivity Group of New Zealand Expands Network With 500th Mobile Site

The Rural Connectivity Group (RCG) reached a milestone with the 500th rural mobile site going live in New Zealand (NZ). The RCG is a partnership between New Zealand’s telcos 2degrees, One NZ, and Spark, working with Crown Infrastructure Partners to bring wireless internet to previously unserved rural areas of New Zealand and provide essential calling on remote highways and tourist locations.

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Impact and Connectivity in New Zealand

The 500th site is built in Anawhata, a coastal community on the west coast of Auckland between Piha and Bethells. It features 30 solar panels and a generator for added resilience. According to the official statement, the 500 sites connect 33,000 houses that previously had no access to internet connectivity, as well as thousands of kilometers of roads and 110 tourist hotspots.

Commenting on the milestone, 2degrees Chief Commercial Officer and RCG director said, “These are some of the most remote sites in New Zealand – so the process to identify the sites, lease land, then get consents and build on the sites can be a long and complex process. Not to mention getting power to the sites – some are off-grid and need innovative solutions using solar. The team at RCG has done this 500 times now – bringing world-class connectivity to rural NZ.”

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Funding and Data Traffic

2degrees notes that the project is funded by the government’s Telecommunications Development Levy, and an additional NZD 75 million has been provided by Spark, One NZ, and 2degrees. The RCG network carries more than four PBs (petabytes) of data traffic per month and nine million voice calls per month.