New Zealand-based Spark has completed the nationwide deployment of its IoT cellular (Cat-M1) network, becoming the first telecommunications provider in the country to achieve full Cat-M1 rollout.
Deployed since September 2018 across more than 96% of the company’s mobile sites, Spark’s Cat-M1 network now reaches 98% of New Zealand’s population. Cat-M1 is purpose-built for low-cost, low-power devices and supports long battery life and reliable, real-time data transmission—capabilities that help businesses make smarter, data-driven decisions.
With broad coverage in place, a wide range of IoT solutions can now operate on a dependable nationwide network. Applications such as electricity, gas and water metering, asset tracking and monitoring, and industrial automation can benefit from consistent connectivity and efficient device management. Australian smart metering provider intelliHUB is Spark’s first customer using the Cat-M1 service. intelliHUB Group CEO Adrian Clark noted the significance for New Zealand’s energy sector, where many smart meters still rely on aging 2G networks.
Clark said: “We are using Spark’s new Cat-M1 network to support our nationwide rollout as we accelerate installation of 150,000 smart meters across a large portion of Trustpower’s customer base. This is our first large-scale technology deployment of this kind, and we are proud to be doing it here in New Zealand, starting in Tauranga for Trustpower with Spark’s support.”
Spark’s Cat-M1 rollout follows the company’s decision in November 2018 to decline a request from the country’s Director-General of the Government Communications Security Bureau to adopt Huawei 5G equipment, a decision made in the context of international concerns and requests from allied governments about the Chinese vendor’s technology.
Picture credit: “New Zealand Flag”, by Nick Kean, used under CC BY 2.0 / Modified from original
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