Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams has today announced draft licencing rules for the use of television white space devices in New Zealand.

“Television white space offers opportunities for new ways to deliver wireless services such as broadband,” Ms Adams says.

“More efficient use of the radio spectrum, such as through the use of white space, will be increasingly important as new technologies continue to drive demand for wireless frequencies.”

More than half a million households, businesses, schools and health centres are now able to connect to the Government’s Ultra-Fast Broadband network, which continues to rollout ahead of schedule.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams today released the latest quarterly report on the Government’s Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) and Rural Broadband Initiatives (RBI).

The report shows the UFB programme is about 7 per cent ahead of schedule. Over the three months to 30 June 2014, a further 96,339 end users gained access to fibre

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams has welcomed the agreement by Crown Fibre Holdings and Chorus on the latest amendment to the companies’ Ultra-Fast Broadband contract.

Both parties have agreed to a change which would give Chorus the ability to bring forward funding in the 2015/16 financial year which would have been provided in 2017/18 and 2018/19.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams has announced that the Korea, Australia and New Zealand (KANZ) Technology Summit will take place in Auckland next week.

KANZ is a trilateral Ministerial-led summit involving government, researchers and private sector representatives to discuss digital developments and explore opportunities for collaboration and new business.

Government-owned company Research and Educational Advanced Network New Zealand Ltd (REANNZ) has entered into a $65 million anchor tenancy contract with Hawaiki Cable Ltd for its proposed new international telecommunications cable, Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce and Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams announced today.

The Government’s whole of contract contribution secures a 25-year anchor tenancy on the cable for REANNZ, which operates New Zealand’s high-performance research and education broadband network.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams has today announced more than 100 licences for AM and FM radio broadcasting will be auctioned later this year.

All licences will be auctioned as commercial licences with tenure up to 2031.

A number of the current commercial licences had been allocated temporarily and will expire in September, before the auction takes place.  Transitional arrangements for these licence holders will be advised shortly.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams today announced the auction of the 700 MHz band of radio spectrum has now been completed, with specific frequencies assigned to successful bidders Telecom, Vodafone and 2degrees.

The assignment auction was the final phase of the auction, held to determine the exact positions (frequencies) that each bidder will acquire in the 700 MHz band. 

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams says 4G mobile technology is a step closer following the Commerce Commerce’s decision to grant Telecom clearance to acquire 2x20 MHz in the 700 MHz band.

“Network operators can get on with building their 4G networks and providing consumers with world-class technology,” Ms Adams says.

The 700 MHz band will be used for 4G-LTE networks, capable of mobile broadband data speeds up to ten times faster than current 3G networks.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams has today announced the two sets of options that will be used for assigning the 700 MHz radio spectrum band between the successful bidders in the Government’s recent auction.

One set of options for assigning which positions (frequencies) within the 700 MHz band each bidder will acquire will be used if the Commerce Commission decides in favour of Telecom’s purchase of 2x20 MHz of the spectrum.

Whangarei has today become the first city in New Zealand to be fully-fibred under the Government’s Ultra-Fast Broadband initiative, Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams has announced.



Ms Adams today joined Prime Minister John Key at Manaia View School in Whangarei - the place where the UFB initiative first kicked off in December 2010 - to celebrate the completion of the project.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams today leaves for Estonia for the Freedom Online Coalition conference in Estonia, and meetings in London.

The conference is a cross-regional grouping of 22 governments, including Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, committed to protecting free expression on the Internet.

All twelve rural schools in remote locations around Gisborne and Wairoa now have faster broadband, as a result of the Government’s broadband initiatives, Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams announced today.

Local communications company Gisborne Net has successfully completed the installation of point-to-point wireless broadband for the 12 schools, under a contract signed with the Government last year.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams has welcomed the introduction of a code of practice to improve the transparency of broadband product information for consumers.



The code has been developed by the Telecommunications Forum (TCF) in response to a request from Ms Adams that improvements be made to make broadband offerings easier to understand and compare.



“Consumers can now see the same basic set of information about competing broadband plans being offered by the main telecommunications companies,” Ms Adams says.

Households can now stop getting phone books delivered, following Government approval for a new opt-out system, Communications and Information Technology Minister and Environment Minister Amy Adams has announced.

Ms Adams has told Yellow, the company which puts together the phone books, it can offer households the ability to opt out of receiving a phone book from 2015.

“In an increasingly digital age, it makes sense to offer people a choice about whether they still want to receive a printed phone book,” Ms Adams says.

David Cunliffe’s trickery appears to be contagious, with Labour’s Clare Curran the latest to demonstrate an on-going, casual relationship with the facts, Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams says.



Ms Curran today made a number of incorrect claims about the agreement by Crown Fibre Holdings and Chorus on the first tranche of amendments to the Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) contract between the two companies.

Information and Communications Technology Minister Amy Adams has welcomed the agreement by Crown Fibre Holdings and Chorus on the first tranche of amendments to the companies’ Ultra-Fast Broadband contract.

The changes agreed by Crown Fibre Holdings and Chorus are intended to close some of the funding gap that was identified in the Government-commissioned independent report by Ernst & Young Australia (EY).

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams has welcomed news that Telecom will launch a new internet-delivered television and movie service.

“This is one of the early signs that the market understands the new opportunities that will be available under the Ultra-Fast Broadband Initiative,” Ms Adams says.

“The announcement from Telecom, which is changing its name to Spark, is an example of the sort of innovate approach I expect to see as UFB is rolled out around the country.

More than a quarter of the Government’s Ultra-Fast Broadband project has been completed, Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams has announced.



Ms Adams has today released the latest quarterly report on the Government’s ultra-fast broadband and rural broadband programmes.



Over the three months to 31 December 2013, a further 40,630 end users gained access to fibre.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams has today released the final report from Ernst & Young Australia on whether Chorus can deliver on its broadband contracts.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment commissioned Ernst & Young Australia to investigate Chorus’ capability to deliver on its Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) and Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) contractual commitments with the Government, in light of the Commerce Commission’s decisions on final wholesale prices for copper-based broadband services.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams has welcomed a new code of practice she had sought that will make it easier for consumers to understand and compare different broadband products.



The code, which comes into effect on 1 March 2014, was developed by the Telecommunications Forum (TCF) in response to a request from Ms Adams for better product information about broadband plans for consumers.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams says the Government has today received a verbal briefing from Ernst & Young Australia on its high level findings on whether Chorus can deliver on its broadband contracts.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams says public comments from some parliamentary parties that they will not be supporting legislation in regards to copper pricing is not unexpected.

“While we have not sought support for legislation from our support parties, they have indicated to me that legislation was always going to be a challenge, so today’s announcement comes as no surprise,” Ms Adams says.

“For some time the Government has been considering a number of possible non-legislative options.