December 2006
Overview
Wireless technology
An ideal test market
Key strengths
Markets
Exports
Products
Industry facts
Innovation
Overview
Sheer horsepower doesn’t always get the job done when it comes to telecommunications and wireless tasks. Sometimes these jobs require nimble fleet-footedness, and when they do, New Zealand is a smart option.
New Zealand telecommunications companies have world-class technology, expertise and capability and are not hindered by the layers of management and drawn-out lines of communication that can make bigger players slow and inflexible to deal with.
New Zealand companies can deliver solutions in faster than average timeframes, enabling clients to stay ahead of the technology curve. The industry’s size and dynamics mean it is perfectly placed to deliver cost-effective production runs for niche markets.
New Zealand’s complementary time zone, 12 hours ahead of GMT, enables international companies to test new applications during the European and US night, speeding up delivery and minimising disruption.
Geographical distance from the world’s major population centres and a rugged, mountainous landscape made it almost inevitable that New Zealand developed strengths in communications. Today the country’s excellent telecommunications infrastructure has 100 percent digital exchange networks, high-capacity fibre optic communications links into Asia and the US, and incorporates the four main wireless networks – CDMA, GSM, GPRS and TDMA.
Wireless technology
An early adopter of wireless technology, New Zealand companies are creating specialised wireless applications that are in international demand.
For example, 4RF’s wireless solutions are deployed by leading cellular network operators around the world to extend connectivity to remote and rural areas, and by utility companies for remote monitoring and SCADA applications. There are now more than 1,000 4RF installations in more than 55 countries.
Other companies such as Argent and Roam AD are developing tier two and tier three networks across the globe.
International companies such as GeoVector Corporation are taking advantage of New Zealand’s capabilities in developing advanced wireless applications based on location based services or LBS. The US-based corporation has located its advanced development lab there.
New Zealand also has extensive expertise in GPS technology innovation for niche markets such as marine and transport. Its success in this sector is being spearheaded by companies such as Navman, acquired by Brunswick Corporation in 2004. The country’s leadership in GPS technology convinced global GPS giant Trimble to locate its main research and development arm here.
An ideal test market
With a population of four million, New Zealand provides a well-defined test market of early technology adopters - compact but large enough to provide realistic results. Vodafone is just one of the international companies that has used New Zealand as a test bed, initially for the introduction of its world-leading GPRS network and subsequently for other new products and services.
A highly wired banking sector also provides an ideal testing ground for advanced mobile commerce and mobile banking applications. New Zealand has a sophisticated electronic payments network and the world’s highest use of electronic transactions. Companies leading the charge in this area include GFG Group, Mobile Commerce and Run The Red.
Key strengths
- Flexibility to produce customised products and services
- Ability to deliver small, but cost-effective production runs for niche markets
- Proven ability to develop advanced wireless applications
- Highly skilled and responsive specialist teams, quick to identify market needs and create applications
- Faster-than-average turnarounds
- A well defined test market and a population of early technology adopters
- A complementary time zone that enables new applications to be tested during the US and European night
- International success in key areas
Markets
- New Zealand telecommunications and wireless hardware and services are exported to more than 100 countries around the globe.
- Major markets include the US, Europe, Australia, South America and Asia. The Middle East is an emerging market.
Exports
- Exports of New Zealand telecommunications and wireless products and services continue to grow strongly.
- In 2005 the New Zealand ICT sector recorded NZ$1.5 billion in export earnings compared with NZ$390 million in 2000.
Products
- Point-to-point wireless transmission and networking applications
- Automatic diallers and call routers
- Wireless communications networks
- GPS global positioning systems navigation
- Electronic payment and billing systems
- Advanced mobile commerce and mobile banking applications
- Services including satellite broadcast networks and call-centre operations
Industry facts
- The early deregulation of New Zealand’s telecommunication’s industry in 1989 helped make the industry internationally competitive. Following deregulation, the market rapidly became one of the most open in the world, meaning that only New Zealand companies developing world-leading technology were able to survive and thrive.
- More than 80 percent of New Zealand telecommunications companies regularly innovate, putting New Zealand at the top of the OECD rankings for company-level innovation.
- International companies frequently take advantage of New Zealand’s time zone (12 hours ahead of GMT) to test new applications.
- Mobile technology standards (TDMA, GSM, CDMA and GPRS) operate alongside numerous fixed wireless networks operating in both the licensed and unlicensed spectrum.
Innovation
Innovation is inherent in New Zealand’s telecommunications and wireless industry. Here are several examples.
- Datasquirt’s software application CONTACTTM enables call centres to fully integrate text messages, email, fax and other non-voice contacts into existing customer management processes. The advantage over competing products is that CONTACTTM allows call centres to manage and record message replies and enquiries via text message.
- M-Com is dedicated to the consumer convenience revolution, building mobile phone products that help consumers claim back their spare time. Its award-winning software application, M-Banking, allows a range of banking transactions to be made via cellphone, including viewing account balance information, transaction summaries, transferring funds and making payments.
- 4RF Communication’s Aprisa range of digital microwave radios enable always-on connectivity to wired infrastructure and the transmission of internet, voice and data traffic between two fixed points over distances up to 100 kilometres.
- Navman’s Jupiter 30 is an ultra-high sensitivity surface mount GPS receiver delivers an unprecedented minus 160 dBM tracking capability, bringing standard GPS functionality to previously impossible locations such as inside buildings, parking garages, shopping malls and other indoor environments; inner city urban canyons; areas with dense foliage and in vehicles with UV-coated or athermic windshields.
- ICT technology innovator Rakon’s high performance crystals and oscillators are found in the world’s leading mobile phones and global positioning systems.
