Spark hopes spectrum change will allow it to launch 5G network next year

Friday, 20 September 2019

A path has been cleared for Spark to catch up with Vodafone and get into the 5G market by the middle of next year.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has invited companies to express interest in securing short-term rights to unallocated spectrum in the key 3.5GHz band.

It anticipates they would be able to use the spectrum to deliver 5G services from about the middle of next year.

There are no guarantees those rights would last beyond November 2022 when the entire spectrum band will be repackaged and resold.

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Vodafone plans to launch a 5G service in December using spectrum it inherited from TelstraClear in the spectrum band.

But Spark has so far been prevented from joining its rival because it doesn't have suitable radio spectrum.

5G is expected to help pave the way for more high-tech services that would benefit from low latency or lag, such as autonomous vehicles and mobile gaming.

Spark spokesman Andrew Pirie welcomed MBIE's announcement, which he said Spark had been expecting.

Pirie hoped it would allow Spark to deliver 5G by mid next year.

'Certainly, we will be expressing our interest.'

2degrees spokesman Mathew Bolland said it would also 'express some interest to find out what it is about, and finding out more for sure'.

'We have said we are going to build 5G, we just not going to talk about when.'

MBIE said the short-term rights would only be available for 5G, and bidders would need to ensure they did not cause interference with existing rights holders 'in and adjacent to the frequencies to be made available', details of which have yet to be released.

Telcos would not receive any compensation if they weren't successful in re-securing the rights to any short-term spectrum they won beyond November 2022, it said.