Explainers

The world of telecommunications is full of jargon and technical terms that are far removed from the day to day lives of Kiwis making calls and surfing the mobile web. In this section, we attempt to demystify radio spectrum and unpack some of the technology underpinning this incredible resource.

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What is radio spectrum?

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Radio spectrum is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum we use to operate a range of wireless technologies from simple AM/FM radio and TV broadcasts to Wi-fi routers and mobile phone services. The spectrum ranges from 1 Hz (hertz) at one end, all the way up to 3000 GHz (gigahertz) at the other end.

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Here and around the world, the radio spectrum is divided up into a series of “bands” and each one is allocated a special use. Some bands, such as those allocated at 700 MHz (megahertz), 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz for 4G mobile services, require a spectrum licence from the government to operate those services.

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Others, such as the 2.4GHz band used to connect to your router wirelessly in your home or at a public Wi-fi hotspot, operate under a General User Licence. That means the users don’t have to pay to access spectrum, which is made available for the common good. The downside to this kind of open access is congestion – when a number of devices are trying to connect in the same location and via the same radio spectrum, it can lead to radio interference – which is one of the reasons why you might get patchy wi-fi access at home.

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The 3G and 4G services we use for calls, texts, sending files and surfing the web, have grown massively in recent years. But we are now in the midst of transitioning to a new technology that uses the existing radio spectrum to dramatically improve data speeds and network capacity and supply a whole host of innovative new services.

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What’s so special about 5G?

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5G or fifth-generation is the next generation of mobile services, and is now available in New Zealand in limited areas around the country. 5G is related to the 4G mobile services we’ve relied on for years but represents a major technical upgrade that allows us to do a lot more with the technology.

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There are bigger radio channels that speed up data transfer, lower latency, which makes for faster connections and better performance with real-time applications such as video calls and gaming, and 5G networks can connect many more devices at the same time.

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5G is ushering in new services that weren’t possible on 4G networks. It offers the prospect of us enjoying better quality calls and faster download and upload speeds. 5G mobile services require the user to connect using a 5G-compatible device, such as a smartphone or tablet, and to do that we need a compatible 5G account plan from Spark, Vodafone or 2Degrees – the three telco providers currently offering 5G mobile services.

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At the moment, 5G doesn’t look or feel that much different to a 4G service, which takes care of most of our needs. But the wave of innovation sparked by the availability of the new technology will, within a short few years, see us all wanting to upgrade to 5G.

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How can Māori benefit from this 5G spectrum resource?

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The historic agreement signed in February 2022 between Māori and the Crown regarding access to telecommunications spectrum offers up a valuable resource that stands to benefit Māori in the future.

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It grants Tū Ātea Limited the right to hold, on behalf of all Māori, an allocation of 5G radio spectrum and 20% of all future allocated commercial spectrum. As radio spectrum rights holders, Tū Ātea has the ability to use that radio spectrum to deliver wireless services, operate networks and trial and launch 5G services. It can also grant access to the spectrum to commercial partners who wish to operate 5G services.

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As such, this agreement gives Māori the opportunity to be at the forefront of innovation in the next generation of mobile services. This promises to give Māori entrepreneurs and innovators a leg up in the digital economy, help close the digital divide and generate revenue streams that can flow back to Māori.

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Will 6G make 5G obsolete?

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The pace of change is so fast in the world of telecommunications that some equipment makers are already trialling so-called 6G mobile services.

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This next generation of services will offer even higher data speeds and make possible services we haven’t even considered yet. The technology will eventually make 5G obsolete. But the investment that mobile network operators have already made and continue to make in 5G, means that the technology will be around for many years to come. When 6G arrives, it will likely operate in tandem with 5G, just as 5G is offered here alongside 4G, 3G and even 2G services in some areas.

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Is 5G wireless technology safe?

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5G is fundamentally no different from previous generations of mobile technology that have been operated safely and effectively for billions of people over at least two decades.

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As our own Ministry of Health points out: “there is nothing unique to 5G that would make it interact differently with the body than other radio-frequency fields (radio signals). For this reason, all the previous research on radio-frequency (RF) fields and health also tells us about the effects and safe levels of 5G.”

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If anything, improvements in mobile technology mean that 5G services will reduce mobile users’ exposure to radio-frequency emissions. The Covid-19 pandemic saw a wave of disinformation about the safety of 5G mobile services emerge. None of the conspiracy theories linking 5G to the spread of the coronavirus have any factual basis and 5G services have been successfully rolled out around the world with no known side effects to users' health.

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