Spark expands uncapped wireless broadband to another half-a-million New Zealanders

Spark has expanded its uncapped wireless broadband to another half-a-million New Zealanders.

It brings uncapped connectivity to around 1.2 million New Zealand addresses across urban and rural areas.

The expansion means that approximately two thirds of New Zealand addresses, including over 10% of rural households, can now stream shows and music, connect with loved ones, and work from home without having to worry about data caps.

Spark product director, Tessa Tierney, said the company has a long-term goal to make unconstrained capacity available for all New Zealanders and is investing over $100 million every year into its mobile network to make that goal a reality.

"We are really happy to be able to take this next step toward uncapping New Zealand," Tierney says.

"We know Kiwis appetite for data is growing and as we continue upgrading and building more cell sites to increase capacity, we are making uncapped broadband available to as many people as possible," she says.

 Wireless broadband works by connecting customers to the nearest cell tower, rather than relying on physical infrastructure like fibre or copper to the home. It is similar in speed to a 4G mobile connection and typically faster than ADSL broadband, making it particularly compelling for many rural customers who do not have access to fibre.

In most cases, wireless broadband can be set up in minutes as there are no installation requirements, and because it runs through Spark's mobile network, customers get end-to-end support, rather than dealing with multiple parties should they have a fibre or copper fault.

Spark's Unplan Metro offer flexes the price a customer pays based on their monthly usage, giving them the freedom to use more if they want, and enjoy savings when they use less. Prices start at just $65 for a base data usage of 0-60GB, $75 for 60-120GB and $85 for 120GB or more.*

"This offer is available permanently to customers in more urban locations, as well as customers in rural areas where we have ample capacity due to new tower builds that have been delivered by our joint venture the Rural Connectivity Group," says Tierney.

"In other parts of rural New Zealand where we have great coverage but more limited capacity, we are offering Unplan Metro for customers to sign up to before 6 September and retain the plan thereafter," she adds.

"This will enable us to closely monitor network performance and make sure we could continue to provide an excellent service in these areas if made permanent, given the added data use."