The domes at the Waihopai spy station near Blenheim will soon be brought down, officials have confirmed.
Andrew Hampton, the Government Communications Security Bureau's (GCSB) Director-General, says the domes have provided more than 30 years of service but are now out of date.
GCSB Minister Andrew Little called the domes "obsolete" and said it was an operational decision to remove them.
"The nature of telecommunications has changed and other needs and capabilities have overtaken the sort of satellite communication interception that has been done at Waihopai.
"Everyone knows technology is rapidly changing. Yesterday's tools aren't always useful when confronting the national security challenges of today and tomorrow.
"Retirement of the domes has been discussed with our Five-Eyes partners and does not diminish New Zealand's unique and highly-valued contributions to the partnership."
Waihopai station would still remain operational, Hampton said.
"To give a picture of their dwindling use, in the past year less than 0.5 percent of the intelligence reports produced by the GCSB were based on dish collection from Waihopai," he said in a statement.
"More modern methods collect more targeted communications and these other forms of intelligence collection are now more effective and efficient at contributing to the Government's national security and intelligence priorities than the type of satellite communication interception undertaken at Waihopai.
"The way in which the GCSB works has evolved, and will continue to evolve, alongside changes in technology."
Waihopai and the domes have for decades been used for eavesdropping on people in the Pacific and have repeatedly been targeted by peace groups.
In 2008, three activists were arrested for using a sickle to pop and deflate one of the domes - described by then-Prime Minister Helen Clark as a "senseless act of vandalism".
