Vodafone Launches 5G Services In Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown

Vodafone New Zealand has launched 5G services in parts of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown, and showcased two of the first local use cases using its 5G network. To access Vodafone’s 5G services, New Zealand customers need a 5G device, a Vodafone 5G Ready plan and be in a 5G coverage area.

Customers will have 5G access at no extra cost until 30 June 2020. To access 5G from 1 July 2020, customers will be able to purchase a 5G Add-On for NZD 10 per connection per month (or the equivalent Prepay term).

5G device launch partner Samsung has released two new models on the Vodafone network, the Note 10+ 5G and the Galaxy A90 5G smartphones. Vodafone customers can acquire the Note 10+ 5G in ‘aura glow’ (chrome) or ‘aura black’ for NZD 2,199. The Samsung Galaxy A90 5G is available in Samsung’s classic black for NZD 1,399 from Vodafone.

Two of the first New Zealand 5G use cases were showcased at the Wellington event. Rob Cochrane, New Zealand Police Chief Information Officer, presented a 5G-enabled drone that can take 4K quality video and feed it back instantly to police officers on the ground. Hamilton-based artificial intelligence company Aware Group displayed a 5G tool for retail businesses.

Vodafone said it will continue to expand its 5G network over the coming few years, adding Nokia 5G technology to more than 1,500 existing cell sites around the country, up from the initial 100 cell sites that are now live. Vodafone is using 3.5GHz spectrum to launch 5G. To reach the one gigabit speeds, Vodafone says it will need approximately 100MHz of 3.5GHz spectrum, so the company plans to continue to work with the government on the early allocation and auction processes. – Telecom Paper