Rural-based New Zealanders will soon be able to enjoy faster, more affordable internet access after Spark announced they are rolling out nationwide trials of a new wireless broadband product.

General Manager of Wholesale & Product for Spark, Lindsay Cowley, says: 'We are extremely close to launching a new, competitive and affordable product giving rural customers fast and reliable internet access using the 4G network on the 700MHz spectrum.

Photo: File.

'We deliberately held off launching a wireless broadband product until we could be confident of delivering a quality service to our regional and rural customers using only the fastest mobile technology available – 4G.

'And, when we officially launch our wireless broadband product, customers won't require a technician to install the service so they needn't worry about the shock of big installation costs.

'The uptake of existing rural broadband Initiative products has been quite low, with a degree of poor customer satisfaction voiced by consumers and industry spokespeople.

'Spark's wireless broadband product will address these concerns and deliver speeds of up to 10 times faster than what some customers tell us they are experiencing on the current 3G RBI product.

'Our customers expect the very best from the Spark network, and we intend to deliver a world class, reliable solution for rural residents.”

Last year Spark future-proofed its network by investing $158 million to secure four lots of the 700MHz spectrum – more than any other provider.

'The 700MHz spectrum is like a highway and we secured more lanes – four in fact – on that highway, over 30 per-cent more than anyone else,” adds Lindsay.

'By adding more 4G lanes we're adding more capacity to our mobile network so that we can offer our customers faster, more reliable speeds and a seamless experience using the 4G network, even as 4G becomes available to more people.

'700MHz is also the ideal spectrum to roll out fast 4G services to rural and regional cell sites across New Zealand due to its greater reach of coverage from the cellsite over other frequencies.”

The product will initially be available to customers in selected areas covered by 4G on the 700MHz spectrum.

On launch, customers will have the choice of selecting a modem for no charge on a 24-month term contract or purchasing the modem for $249 on an open-term contract.

Customers will be able to access an online tool to check their range of 4G coverage over 700MHz to see whether they are in an area suitable for wireless broadband.

'We've been working hard and fast over the past 12-months to leverage the spectrum advantage we have by successfully rolling out 4G to 150 cell sites across the country,” explains Lindsay.

'We're excited that this number is increasing by the day and as our coverage footprint of 4G over 700MHz expands, so does the number of customers that will likely be able to access wireless broadband for a more affordable option to use internet services.”

Spark has begun nationwide trials of its wireless broadband product with staff this week and customer trials will start early next week.