Rural Canterbury getting connected

Spark expects by December 2016 to have installed 4G wireless broadband network to 96% of where Canterbury works and lives, enabling internet connectivity at speeds previously only dreamed of in rural areas.

The ambitious plan was announced by Spark managing director Simon Moutter in Christchurch on December 10. Spark has worked with the Canterbury Mayoral Forum headed by Dame Margaret Bazley to ensure the needed network upgrades get fast tracking by the councils involved.

Timaru District mayor Damon Odey has led the digital connectivity task force for the Mayoral Forum and has worked with Spark for 12 months. Canterbury is the first province to get the Spark service, which Mouter says is unlikely to be repeated elsewhere in NZ.

An average house now downloads more data in one day than the whole of NZ used per month in 1990, and there is a growing digital divide between rural and urban NZ. About 32,000 rural homes now have less ultra-fast internet capacity than the Government deems desirable.

Spark has chosen to use 4G wireless because the other alternatives – ADSL and fibre-optic – either need infrastructure that is too expensive or deliver service that deteriorates with distance from an exchange.

The 4G rural wireless network runs at 40-135 megabits/second; most competitors offer a maximum of only 10 mb/s.

Spark is offering two data plans: a naked broadband connection priced at $95.99 a month for 80GB of data, and a broadband and landline option at $105.99 per month for 80GB of data and free national calling. The deal includes a wi-fi base station that connects devices to the internet.

This opens the door to precision agriculture: farmers will be able to download previously unobtainable data and have it transmitted to their smartphones.

It will enable efficient irrigation and no wasted water, and improved farm security with farmers able to put sensors and cameras on gates to trigger alerts. It will improve farm safety, allowing staff to be contacted or to call for help.

Stuart Gray, Fonterra, says 300 of the co-op's farmers cannot get email – a huge disadvantage. This will change.

And migrant workers will be able to do their industry qualifications online and stay connected to their families more reliably.