Spark has chance to get into 5G
A path has been cleared for Spark to catch up with Vodafone and get into the 5G market by the middle of next year.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has invited companies to express interest in securing short-term rights to unallocated spectrum in the key 3.5GHz band. It anticipates they would be able to use the spectrum to deliver 5G services from about the middle of next year.
There are no guarantees those rights would last beyond November 2022 when the entire spectrum band will be repackaged and resold.
Vodafone plans to launch a 5G service in December using spectrum it inherited from TelstraClear in the spectrum band.
But Spark has so prevented from joining because it doesn’t have radio spectrum.
5G is expected to help pave the far been its rival suitable way for more hi-tech services that would benefit from low latency or lag, such as autonomous vehicles and mobile gaming.
Spark spokesman Andrew Pirie welcomed MBIE’s announcement, which he said Spark had been expecting. Pirie hoped it would allow Spark to deliver 5G by mid next year. ‘‘Certainly, we will be expressing our interest.’’
2degrees spokesman Mathew Bolland said it would also ‘‘express some interest to find out what it is about, and finding out more for sure’’. ‘‘We have said we are going to build 5G, we’re just not going to talk about when.’’
MBIE said the short-term rights would only be available for 5G, and bidders would need to ensure they did not cause interference with existing rights holders ‘‘in and adjacent to the frequencies to be made available’’, details of which have yet to be released.
Telcos would not receive any compensation if they weren’t successful in resecuring the rights to any short-term spectrum they won beyond November 2022, it said.
One of the unsung heroes of the consumer ecosystem is the network of 80 Citizens Advice Bureaux around the country. Staffed by over 2600 trained volunteers, these women and men act as the champions of people’s rights, providing free and useful information and advice on everything from immigration, to relationships, to retirement.
While anyone can tap them for assistance, a good number of their clients are migrants, low-income earners and older folk.
And that’s exactly who was in front of me in the queue at the Timaru Citizens Advice Bureau a few weeks ago.
While the backgrounds of the three people in front of me were diverse, the common thread was that all of them wanted help with the internet.
This ranged from a sole trader getting to grips with Inland Revenue’s move to require payday filing of PAYE online, an elderly gent trying to get the hang of internet banking and a new New Zealander trying to set up a RealMe online identity.
A couple of them were running between the Citizens Advice Bureau and the adjacent New Zealand Post outlet, trying to harness what they had learned via the NZ Post free wi-fi service.
Although it’s not a term they would identify with, these sorts of people are described as being digitally excluded.
The corresponding policy initiative which seeks to help them is called digital inclusion, and has been part of Labour Party policy for almost five years now.
In simple terms, digital inclusion is about helping the people without digital access or skills who are left flailing in the wake of the rush to digitise everything from your dog, to your kids’ homework, to your taxes.
According to findings from the Digital Inclusion Research Group, about 100,000 New Zealanders lack access to the internet. That equates to about 15 per cent of families, but in some places like Wairoa and Gore, it’s more like 40 per cent.
Three months ago, against this backdrop, the former digital services minister, Megan Woods, launched the Government’s Digital Inclusion Blueprint.
The launch promised that the blueprint would outline how people can take full advantage of the internet, identify groups of New Zealanders who struggle to access online services, and bring about meaningful change.
To this end, the blueprint proposes a four-part approach to delivering a more digitally inclusive Aotearoa comprising motivation, skills, access and trust. All of which sounds fine.
In fact, it sounds remarkably similar to what I opined was needed back in 2017.
However, from my reading of the rather wordy blueprint material, nothing is actually going to happen this year in terms of delivery. There are promises about developing an outcomes framework and identifying priority areas; but nothing about execution and making a change to the lives of the Timaru folk.