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Move over 4G mobile phone technology – Spark has already switched on 4.5G, recently upgrading its existing cellphone tower on Hibiscus Highway just past the Millwater Parkway intersection.
This is Spark’s second 4.5G site in New Zealand, and the first to be placed in a residential area – earlier this year it put a 4.5G tower in Christchurch.
Spark chief operating officer Mark Beder says that Silverdale was chosen not only because of population growth projections, but because it’s already the busiest mobile site on the entire Spark network – with over 1.6 terabytes of data being used each week.
Demand for mobile data in Silverdale is growing at around two percent per week, mostly driven by video.
“By the 2030s, there will be nearly 23,000 households in the Silverdale-Dairy Flat area according to Auckland Council, and with subdivisions in Millwater and Red Beach and the business park at Highgate all being developed, this growth needs to be supported with telecommunications infrastructure with lots of capacity,” Mr Beder says.
He says 4.5G will deliver faster speeds and more options for residents and businesses – but only once mobile devices catch up.
“Because it’s so new, the full capability of Spark’s network is actually being delivered ahead of the ability of most existing devices – future-proofing Silverdale for when the next generation of devices launch.”
However, Mr Beder says people with one of the latest phones will already be able to get between three and five times the speeds of regular 4G.
The upgrade also allows Spark to serve more people from a single site – the tower now has around five times the capacity of a regular 4G tower.
