Spark says it’s poised to be the first telco in New Zealand to deliver a pure 5G connection without any slower, laggier 4G link in the chain.
The telco has kicked off an upgrade to
“5G stand-alone” – as it is known in the industry – after signing contracts with technology partners Ericsson and Red Hat.
A three-month trial took place last year. The full upgrade will happen over the next three years and is budgeted at $40 million to $60m. After the core is upgraded, some 80 per cent of Spark’s cell sites will be able to deliver full-blooded 5G.
While 5G networks in New Zealand currently use 4G for base connectivity, known as the ‘core’ of the mobile network, 5G stand-alone means 5G-enabled cell towers will connect back into a 5G core, resulting in an end-to-end 5G network, Spark network and operations director Renee Mateparae says.
The gist is that…
