The Rural Mobile Programme improves the availability of mobile services to support safety on state highways and enhance visitor experience at key tourist destinations.
This is to ensure that rural New Zealanders can share in the social and economic benefits mobile coverage offers, and to improve travel safety and emergency response capability in rural areas.
Mobile coverage currently covers areas where over 95 per cent of New Zealand’s population live and work.
Mobile customers from all three mobile operators – 2degrees, Spark and One NZ – will be able to share in the benefits of this improved coverage, regardless of their chosen provider.
State Highways
In remote areas, installing continuous coverage on State Highways can be very difficult. Rugged mountainous terrain with lots of hills and valleys makes mobile coverage difficult to achieve.
The focus of the State Highway coverage is to improve public safety. This will provide everyone with access to the emergency 111 network no matter what mobile network they are with.
NIFF will build mobile coverage for over 1,800 kilometres of state highways by the end of 2024. Priority for State Highway coverage was initially to the longest black spots, black spots with the highest traffic volumes, and those with the highest vehicle crash rates.
State Highways will have ‘islands’ of coverage which are sign-posted so you will know where the coverage can be found, and how far down the highway you need to travel to get into mobile coverage.
This will provide everyone with access to the emergency 111 network no matter what mobile network they are with. Drivers will see an area that they will be able to pull over and phone for help on the 111 network should an emergency or incident occur.
Accessing mobile coverage on State Highways
In short – just use your current mobile phone as you normally would.
You will see a sign like this on a State Highway showing you that mobile coverage is coming up:
Your mobile phone will then show bars of coverage as normal and you will then be able to make a call or send a text message.
As long as you are a current customer of a New Zealand mobile network, you will be able to contact emergency services by dialling 111.
Tourism locations
NIFF will build mobile towers in more than 180 tourist locations by the end of 2024. Tourism areas were prioritised based on visitor numbers per year and areas that required coverage for safety purposes.
Connectivity in some of New Zealand’s most remote tourism locations is central for safety and improved access to emergency access. Providing mobile coverage to the ends of cycle and walking tracks enables first responders to have a much better chance of helping people in difficulty.
Please see the following lists showing mobile blackspot coverage on State Highways and Tourism Locations across New Zealand:
Rural Mobile partner
NIFF contracted with the Rural Connectivity Group (RCG) to bring 4G mobile and wireless broadband coverage to rural New Zealand under the Rural Mobile Programme.
Government and industry collaboration saw New Zealand as the first country in the world where all three mobile network operators share radio access network equipment and one set of antennae on each facility built by the Rural Connectivity Group.
The Rural Connectivity Group is an independent entity that has been established by New Zealand’s three Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), to build mobile infrastructure in partnership with NIFF under the Rural Broadband and Rural Mobile programmes.
Mobile and wireless broadband services are available from all three mobile companies, meaning rural New Zealanders can look forward to a competitive retail environment with multiple companies offering great value deals and different services.