More than half of the country's rural household and businesses now have access to 4G wireless internet, with the erection of the 100th Rural Broadband Initiative tower.
The milestone was marked on Thursday in Gebbies Valley, outside Christchurch. Communications Minister Kris Faafoi told Newshub while ultra-fast broadband is now commonplace in cities, rural communities are crying out for better internet connectivity.
"Most Kiwis would [have trouble] when everyone's trying to use Netflix, but in rural areas the ability to get a Netflix movie isn't necessarily there."
The Government's Rural Broadband Initiative is working with the Rural Connectivity Group - Spark, Vodafone, 2degrees and a number of smaller ISPs who offer wireless services. By the end of March they'd made improved broadband available to nearly 46,000 rural households and businesses - 54 percent of the scheme's target by 2023.
"During the COVID lockdown connectivity became extremely important for Kiwis right around the country, especially those in rural areas. To have another rural community connected... is great."
The tower in Gebbies Valley has "shared antennae technology", according to infrastructure minister Shane Jones, so the different telcos don't need to put up separate towers.
Having all three mobile operators' services available from every Rural Connectivity Group tower will extend coverage for emergency services calling and will allow for emergency calls and information to be received by more people in more remote areas of New Zealand."
The tower - like many others - will also fill a mobile black spot with 3G voice calling.
Faafoi said hundreds more towers will be needed to cover the remaining black spots.
"During the COVID lockdown connectivity became extremely important for Kiwis right around the country, especially those in rural areas. To have another rural community connected... is great."
Thirty-six tourism sites that previously had no mobile coverage now have it - just 21 percent of the 2023 target.
The UFB rollout is now 91 percent complete, the Government said, with 966,0900 homes and businesses connected. By the end of 2022 1.8 million will have access to UFB or wireless 4G, covering 99.8 percent of the population.
