City Rail Link goes full 4G and 5

In this edition:

• City Rail Link passengers to
  get continuous mobile
• TCF – Making it easier for
  consumers to understand their broadband
  options
• Opensignal
• Wild weather drives 300%
  surge in texting through space on One NZ
  Satellite

350 transmitters, 74km of cable for
underground network

One
New Zealand is leading the build programme so passengers get
full 4G and 5G coverage on Auckland City Rail Link trains.
The company is working with technology partner Nokia on
behalf of all three mobile carriers.

Infrastructure is
now being installed to provide connectivity through the
3.5km of tunnels and at Waihorotiu, Karanga-a-Hape and
Maungawhau stations.

Spark, One NZ and 2degrees have
co-operated in the past to provide rural coverage through
the Rural
Connectivity Group joint venture. Yet this is the first
time the three have collaborated directly on a project of
this scale.

Patrick Brockie, CRL Ltd’s chief
executive says: “Installing technology that allows
high-speed communications connectivity is an important part
of delivering a world class railway.”

5G to play
essential role

Providing 5G for passengers is
important, yet as Auckland Transport chief executive Dean
Kimpton says, the technology has an essential role to play
in the event of an underground
incident.

“Connectivity underground is crucial for
real-time train tracking, emergency communications and
integration of CRL with Auckland Transport systems that keep
public transport running.

“It will help to keep
trains and passengers on time and
online.”

Engineering challenges

Underground
mobile infrastructure is quite different to that above
ground and technically complex. Wireless signals don’t
pass through the concrete, steel or earth found in railway
tunnels.

To get around these challenges, engineers are
installing more than 350 radio transmitters connected by
74km of cabling and 30km of leaky feeders — cables that
transmit radio frequencies.

CRL says installation work
will continue until early in the New Year. Full coverage
will be available when the CRL opens later in 2026.
Officially, no opening date has been announced.
Unofficially, staff expect trains to start running in the
middle of the year.

Shared costs

Auckland
Transport, City Rail Link Ltd and the three mobile network
operators, One NZ, 2degrees and Spark will share the cost of
4G and 5G infrastructure in City Rail Link tunnels and
stations.

CRL Ltd says: “Cellular connectivity was
specified as a requirement of the project from the outset,
as it’s vital for integrating with Auckland Transport’s
public transport operating systems and safety in underground
environments — as well as for customers to stay connected
on their personal devices.

“The total cost is
included within CRL Ltd’s overall scope and funded as part
of the $5.5 billion project budget.”

Spark offers
widest mobile coverage in Opensignal report

There was
something for everybody in the latest Opensignal New Zealand
Mobile Network Experience Report.

Spark was named the
winner for Coverage Experience. Opensignal says the company
continues to operate the widest and largest coverage
footprint. While its score improved from 9.0 to 9.1, One NZ
narrowed the gap with its coverage score climbing from 8.2
to 8.5.

Opensignal says Spark’s long-term
exclusive agreement for 20 MHz of Tū Ātea’s C-band
spectrum, boosted its deployable 5G spectrum to 100 MHz
and overall spectrum to 350 MHz.

2degrees came top in
five of the report’s 14 categories and joint top in a
further five. The company tops the field in Games, Upload
Speed, 5G Video, 5G Games and 5G Upload
experience.

Meanwhile One NZ won for nationwide 5G
Experience and came top for 5G Availability in four of seven
regions. In the other three it was joint top with Spark. One
NZ also topped the table for Download Speed Experience with
80.7 Mbps.

TCF updates customer information
codes

The New Zealand Telecommunications Forum
updated two industry marketing codes following Commerce
Commission guideline changes.

Both codes aim to give
customers the information they need to make informed
choices. The Broadband Marketing Code now explains the
different speed and performance characteristics of broadband
services so customers can more easily compare
providers.

The Marketing Alternative Services during
Copper and PSTN Transition Code steers telcos through their
marketing when dealing with customers moving from older,
end-of-life technologies and services to the newer services
delivered via fibre, fixed wireless and other network
types.

One NZ Satellite sees traffic surge as severe
weather strikes

One NZ says it saw a 300 percent
increase in text messages on its satellite-to-mobile service
after last week’s bad weather took out more than 130 One
NZ or Rural Connectivity Group cell sites.

Ian Sutton,
who heads One NZ’s Network Services, says the satellite
worked exactly as planned as his organisation installed more
than 20 generators getting the network back in
operation.

One NZ customers with a suitable device are
able to send and receive satellite text messages at no extra
charge. The
company has offered direct-to-mobile satellite texting since
December 2024.

RSM seeks feedback on 24–30 GHz
band

MBIE’s Radio Spectrum Management unit has
opened consultation on allocation and technical arrangements
for frequencies in the 24-30GHz range. This includes sharing
options between mobile and satellite services in the 28GHz
band.

The process has started now as the existing
28GHz satellite licences are due to expire in May 2026. RSM
wants to establish new satellite licensing before then so
there is a smooth roll-over.

In
2023, RSM decided the 24.25 – 27.5 GHz spectrum range will
mainly be used for mobile communications. There are
options to include some satellite services.

Plans are
for the 27.5 – 28.35 GHz spectrum range to be shared
between mobile and satellite services while the 28.35 – 29.5
GHz range will be satellite first with some mobile
use.

Feedback closes on November 28.

ComCom
publishes fibre deregulation draft

The Commerce
Commission has released a draft paper setting out its
proposed legal and economic framework for fibre
deregulation reviews. It explains how the Commission
will determine if competition has increased enough for
regulation to be lifted or reduced.

There are four
steps in the framework: describing the service, identifying
alternative services, assessing the effectiveness of
competition and testing whether continued regulation best
serves the long-term interests of end users.

The
Commerce Commission is looking for submissions on its draft
with responses due by November 27. The final framework is
expected to appear in early 2026.

Voice service
regulation

A second Commerce Commission draft paper
recommends retaining regulation of New Zealand’s
fibre-based wholesale voice services under Part 6 of the
Telecommunications Act 2001.

The paper says
competition is limited because retail voice providers rely
on wholesale fibre services. Viable alternative, such as
mobile or fixed wireless, are not yet strong enough to
constrain fibre providers. Removing regulation now could
risk higher prices or reduced quality for
consumers.

In other news…

NZ
media specialists archive Niue video treasure

New
Zealand media specialists Silver Trak Digital and Damsmart
have worked with the Broadcasting Corporation of Niue and
Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited to digitise
hundreds of archived video tapes.

The tapes are in
S-VHS and DVCAM formats from the end of the analogue video
tape era and the dawn of the digital era. By today’s
standards, they are rare. Tape stock is almost impossible to
find and most of the surviving hardware is used only for
digitising purposes.

David Elder, GM of Silver Trak
and Damsmart NZ says the S-VHS tapes showed significant
mould and there was an issue keeping the S-VHS machines
running.

“They are an old format and one that was
not very popular, so we scoured the country finding extra
machines. At the start of this project Damsmart NZ owned
four S-VHS machines – we now have a total of 13. This
project was particularly sensitive and at some points
delicate, but it all came together perfectly by the
end.”

When the project completed everything was
transferred to portable NAS drives (hard
drives).

Oppo launches Find X9, X9 Pro with telephoto
lens

Oppo Find X9 Pro.

Spark, 2degrees and One
NZ are now selling Oppo’s $2000 flagship Find X9 and $2600
Find X9 Pro phones.

As is often the case, marketing
for the new phones leans heavily on their cameras. Both
handsets include the Hasselblad Master Camera
System.

The Find X9 has main, ultra-wide and telephoto
50 megapixel cameras along with a True Colour camera. The
Find X9 Pro adds a 200 megapixel Hasselblad
Telephoto.

Handset market grows 2.6% in third
quarter

IDC says the phone
market continued its recovery in the third quarter of
2025 with shipments up 2.6 percent on the same period a year
ago. This is all the more remarkable given the turbulence
caused by America’s tariff moves and greater economic
uncertainty.

Premium phone upgrades and the arrival of
more affordable AI-enabled phones are behind the
growth.

Both Apple and Samsung have done well. IDC
says demand for the iPhone 17 models has been robust, while
Samsung is seeing momentum for its foldable
phones.

The Download Weekly is supported by Chorus
New Zealand.

City Rail Link goes full 4G and 5G was
first posted at
billbennett.co.nz.

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