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  "description": "One NZ mobile network upgrades, a widening gap between how businesses and customers see online engagement, Amazon’s enterprise satellite plans, AST’s manufacturing boost and forecasts showing Apple set to overtake Samsung.\n",
  "path": "/download-weekly-network-upgrades-satellite-moves/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-11-27T17:30:18.000Z",
  "site": "https://billbennett.co.nz",
  "tags": [
    "One NZ is preparing to shut down its 3G phone network",
    "Spark to recycle 3G spectrum for rural 5G",
    "NZ 3G networks plan to close by end of 2025",
    "3G use slows as networks face closure",
    "Spark delays 3G shutdown - official cut-off confirmed",
    "Digital equity concern as 3G shutdown nears",
    "Download InternetNZ engagement reportDotNZ-Research-2025-Summary.pdf301 KBdownload-circle",
    "Private 5G, satellite resilience and the final TDL",
    "City Rail Link goes full 4G and 5G",
    "Chorus anticipates high-bandwidth IoT demand",
    "Fibre uptake and the regional 5G lag",
    "Apple's latest smartphones",
    "New Zealand's submarine cables",
    "torching Wānaka cell towers",
    "Project Kuiper",
    "More about satellite communications.",
    "2degrees’ satellite partner AST SpaceMobile",
    "a 33% increase in incident reports",
    "conditional authorisation for Starlink to provide direct-to-mobile services"
  ],
  "textContent": "In this edition:\n— One NZ network upgrades\n— Customers, businesses online disconnect\n— Amazon Leo’s enterprise play\n\n* * *\n\n## One NZ upgrades and expands mobile network\n\nOne New Zealand says its engineers upgraded 21 mobile network sites in October. The works include nine new sites and 5G expansion improvements at a further 12 sites.\n\nThis brings the total for 2025 to 227 new or upgraded sites across the motu. 175 sites are 5G.\n\nThaigan Govender, GM of One’s Mobile Access Network, says: “We don’t just focus on the big cities or the speed-test headlines — we’re making sure our customers get connectivity they can count on in more of the places they visit.”\n\nOne NZ is preparing to shut down its 3G phone network at the end of December 2025. In readiness for this, the company has upgraded every mobile site to 4G.\n\nThe company crowdsources its network upgrade planning asking customers to indicate where they experience slow data speeds or dropped calls. Govender says where there are lots of problems in the same place it becomes an upgrade priority.\n\nOne NZ new sites in October: Henderson shops, Lake Pupuke, Pukekohe North, Gulf Harbour, Haumoana, Kerikeri Southwest, Kerikeri Township, Lottin Point (RCG site), Arthurs Point.\n\nUpgraded sites: Te Atatu Central, Meadowood, Upper Khyber Pass, Quay Street East, Otara, Te Puke, Papanui, Queenstown Gorge Industrial, Pokeno, Te Kauwhata Straights, Lambton Quay, Greytown.\n\n* * *\n\nMore on the New Zealand 3G shutdown\n\n2023 Spark to recycle 3G spectrum for rural 5G\n\n2023 NZ 3G networks plan to close by end of 2025\n\n2024 3G use slows as networks face closure\n\n2025 Spark delays 3G shutdown - official cut-off confirmed\n\n2025 Digital equity concern as 3G shutdown nears\n\n* * *\n\n## InternetNZ finds online engagement disconnect\n\nA report commissioned by InternetNZ found a significant disconnect between how New Zealand businesses and consumers view online engagement.\n\nCustomers want to buy online, but businesses neither recognise nor prioritise this. The survey found 54% of consumers primarily see websites as a means for online purchases. Only 38% of businesses view this as a key benefit.\n\nThe researchers found businesses think email is for conversation, while consumers want information updates.\n\nMeanwhile businesses consistently rank social media benefits higher than consumers do across almost all categories. The report suggests businesses may be overestimating social media's effectiveness while they continue to invest heavily in it.\n\nThere’s a similar gap with AI chatbots. A third (34%) of businesses see AI chatbots as useful for online sales. Just 4% of consumers agree.\n\nThe survey also found that 47% of small businesses lack a website, with the figure rising to three in four sole traders operating without one.\n\nOverall, businesses tend to underinvest in the areas where consumers would prefer, mainly websites for sales and information while they potentially over invest in areas that consumers care less about: Social media, AI chatbots for sales.\n\nDownload InternetNZ engagement reportDotNZ-Research-2025-Summary.pdf301 KBdownload-circle\n\n**More posts on infrastructure and network evolution**\n\n  * Private 5G, satellite resilience and the final TDL – A look at the broader shift toward specialized network resilience.\n  * City Rail Link goes full 4G and 5G – How modern infrastructure is being built with high-speed mobile as a baseline.\n  * Chorus anticipates high-bandwidth IoT demand – Looking at the backhaul requirements for the next generation of connectivity.\n  * Fibre uptake and the regional 5G lag – Earlier context on how 5G expansion has historically progressed across New Zealand.\n\n\n\n* * *\n\n## Sign up for Bill Bennett\n\ntelecommunications + technology from a New Zealand perspective\n\nSubscribe\n\nEmail sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup.\n\nNo spam. Unsubscribe anytime.\n\n## In other news…\n\n  * Hands-on with Apple's latest smartphones, the iPhone 17 and 17 Pro — Interest\n  * Understanding the risks with New Zealand's submarine cables — RNZ\n  * Judge mutes 'sovereign citizen' accused of torching Wānaka cell towers — ODT (paywall)\n\n\n\n* * *\n\n## Amazon Leo reveals enterprise satellite plans\n\nDetails have emerged of plans for Amazon Leo (formerly Project Kuiper), the satellite internet service aimed at enterprise customers. There are now more than 150 satellites in orbit.\n\nThis week the company showed Leo Ultra, a high-speed antenna capable of 1 Gbps download speeds and upload speeds of up to 400 Mbps. Amazon says it is the fastest customer terminal currently in production.\n\nAmazon Leo is offering what it calls an “enterprise preview programme” which will give earlier access to selected business customers so they can test the network before next year’s full commercial roll out.\n\nOne key feature is Direct-to-AWS connectivity. This lets customers connect directly to their cloud workloads with simplified network management and lower latency. Also coming soon is a Private Network Interconnect capability that lets enterprises establish private connections to their data centres in days rather than weeks or months.\n\nMore about satellite communications.\n\n* * *\n\n## AST SpaceMobile ramps up manufacturing\n\n2degrees’ satellite partner AST SpaceMobile has expanded its US manufacturing with two new factories. These will be used to build the company’s next generation of BlueBird satellites.\n\nThe new satellites feature large phased-array antennas and AST’s custom AST5000 chip. This delivers up to ten times the bandwidth of earlier models and promises peak speeds of around 120 Mbps.\n\n* * *\n\n## Apple phone shipments set to overtake Samsung\n\nAnalyst firm Counterpoint says Apple is set to ship more mobile phones than Samsung for the first time in over a decade. The iPhone 17 is selling faster than its predecessor or any other phone model. Total phone shipments are set to rise 3.5% this year.\n\nCounterpoint forecasts iPhone shipments will increase by ten percent in 2025. When the year ends, the analyst firm expects Apple will finish with a 19.4% share of the handset market. Samsung is on course to finish the year with an 18.7% share. Counterpoint does not expect Samsung to return to top spot in the next four years.\n\n* * *\n\n## Five years ago New Zealand was reeling from a post-lockdown cyber crime wave\n\nCert, the government’s Computer Emergency Response Team, reported a 33% increase in incident reports. That was close to double the level the same time in the previous year. Elsewhere Crown Infrastructure Partners reported that UFB uptake was at 62% with 22 new towns added to the network in the quarter.\n\nThis time last year the US Federal Communications Commission granted conditional authorisation for Starlink to provide direct-to-mobile services in the United States. This paved the way for One New Zealand to roll out its direct-to-mobile text service.\n\n* * *\n\nDownload Weekly is an industry newsletter. You are welcome to pass it on to your friends and colleagues. Although the newsletter is free, reader support helps enormously. If you’re reading this for work, donations are tax-free.\n\nHave your say. Sign up as a subscriber to comment on any of the stories on this site. We don’t collect any personal data other than an email address.\n\n**The Download Weekly is supported by Chorus New Zealand.**",
  "title": "One NZ’s final 3G sprint as Amazon enters LEO fray",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-13T05:37:19.309Z"
}