SpaceX launch brings NZ closer to 100% mobile coverage

Friday, 5 January 2024

One NZ says it’s on track to provide “coverage like never before” later this year, after successful SpaceX rocket launch.

The day when New Zealanders will be able to send and receive text messages from anywhere in the country – even if a natural disaster takes out cellphone towers – has moved closer after a successful rocket launch.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket deployed six new-generation Starlink satellites that One NZ and overseas mobile operators including United States carrier T-Mobile and Australia’s Optus will be able to use as “cellphone towers in the sky”.

Satellite telephony is not new, but the significance of the new Starlink satellites is that they can operate as standard cellphone towers in space, capable of connecting almost all existing smartphones on the widely-supported 1800MHz frequency.

One NZ chief executive Jason Paris said the satellites were a new innovation that would directly benefit all New Zealanders.

The company has previously emphasised their potential value in the wake of a disaster similar to Cyclone Gabrielle, when the land-based cellphone network was knocked out by power cuts in large tracks of the Coromandel and Hawke’s Bay.

However, because the satellites fly in a low-Earth orbit and pass quickly overhead, One NZ will need SpaceX to deploy many more than six satellites before it is able to provide anything that resembles a seamless space-based text messaging service.

One NZ is banking on its relationship with the heavy-weight in the satellite industry, SpaceX, to give it an edge over its rivals.

SpaceX’s goal is to eventually have enough satellites to allow its telco customers to also use them to provide voice and internet coverage.

One NZ spokesperson Matt Flood said it planned to test a text messaging service in conjunction with SpaceX before launching “coverage like never before late this year”.

“We’ll only launch the service when an SMS text or MMS message can be sent within a matter of minutes — not hours, as may be offered by other carriers connected with far fewer satellites,” he said.

“This is to ensure that we provide a service that makes the most meaningful impact for One New Zealand customers.”

One NZ is the only telco that will have the right to use Starlink’s new-generation satellites for cellphone coverage in New Zealand.

However, Spark and 2degrees have inked their own deals with rival start-up satellite provider Lynk Global that they plan to use to provide a similar service.

Spark sent its first text message via space in November, when it used a standard mobile in a mobile blackspot near Kawakawa Bay in Auckland to route a message via one of Lynk’s satellites.

2degrees opened up a trial of the same technology to a small group of staff and customers in Nelson in the week before Christmas.

The relative quality of the services that each of the network providers will be able to provide will depend in large part on the number of satellites that their partners – SpaceX or Lynk – is able to put into space.

2degrees chief executive Mark Callander emphasised that when commenting on its December trial.

“We know people are really keen to get their hands on this, but the number of satellites in the sky means the service is only available for minutes at a time, and we want this to be longer and have conducted more testing in the wild before we release it widely,” he said.

“That said, despite the limitations, it’s seriously cool. It’s rocket science – we are sending messages via a cell tower flying at around 27,000 kilometres per hour almost 500km above the earth.”

None of the telcos have so far disclosed how they will price or market the services.

However, there appears to be a common desire to ensure space-based text messaging will be able to be used to connect people in emergencies when terrestrial cellphone towers are down.

The three mobile network providers already have a mutual arrangement to enable each others’ customers to contact emergency services over their regular cellular networks in situations where one of those is out of action.

One NZ said last year that it would also let Spark and 2degrees’ customers roam on its Starlink service and send emergency messages in the event of a disaster similar to Cyclone Gabrielle.

Paris said One NZ, T-Mobile , Optus and SpaceX’s partners in Canada, Japan and Switzerland had agreed all of their customers would be able to roam on their respective satellite-based services in each country when they launched.

In separate initiative to improve the resilience of its cellphone network, Spark announced in November that it would locate “satellite-connected temporary cell towers” across Northland, Auckland, Napier, Palmerston North and Canterbury.

Those could be deployed to provide alternative connectivity if its mobile network was impacted by damage to fibre-optic lines, it said.

Spark network director Renee Mateparae said that while fibre cables were needed to support “day-to-day” connectivity, they ran under roads and over bridges which could be damaged during natural disasters.

“This is where satellite backhaul plays an important role in resilience – substituting fibre temporarily to allow for basic connectivity, such as texts and calls.

“During Cyclone Gabrielle we deployed satellite backhaul to get our towers back online, but we encountered significant access challenges when trying to get into impacted areas. With our new satellite-connected temporary cell towers we can ensure the right equipment is positioned much closer to our regions and ready to be deployed more quickly,” she said.