UBB are proud founding members of WISPA NZ (Wireless Internet Service Providers Association of NZ).
Our CEO Mike Smith, is current Chair of WISPA NZ, serving the more than 30 independent regional WISPS throughout NZ providing rural broadband plans to business and families all around the country whom wouldn’t be able to obtain without WISPA.
As found on the WISPA NZ website below:
They provide Internet connectivity by fixed wireless, mostly in regional or rural areas where mainstream telecommunications companies don’t bother going. WISPs connect to a fibre optic link at a central point (this is known as “backhaul”), install a series of fixed wireless receivers and transmitters on hilltops or high buildings, and bounce the wireless signal across a series of these sites to a cluster of end users in a rural area.
Here in New Zealand there are about 30 WISPs. Most of them operate in a single region. Nearly all are privately owned businesses run by an owner operator who is active in the business day by day. This makes them very accessible and responsive in terms of their customer service. There are no interminable waits for a call centre to answer in Asia; your local WISP is just down the road..The services, speeds and prices WISPs offer are highly competitive with urban suppliers.
Often the service quality is indistinguishable from the fibre-to-the-premises offered in big cities. And WISPs are as good as anyone for reliability – for example, during the Kaikoura earthquake in 2016 the local WISP, Amurinet, stayed on line uninterrupted, keeping the community connected during the recovery phase while every other fixed and mobile service provider went off line.
WISPA-NZ – or more fully the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association of New Zealand Inc – was established in January 2017. Our purpose is to be a unifying point for the WISPs, liaise with central and local government, provide a collective voice for members, negotiate collectively (eg for joint purchase or leasing of wireless spectrum) and do whatever else the members collectively decide.
For example, we have made representations to Radio Spectrum Management about future spectrum policy, submitted to the Commerce Commission’s review of backhaul pricing, and entered negotiations with several parties about commercial arrangements that will advantage members’ businesses and customers.
Issues continue to arise. Examples include collective liaison with various Retail Service Providers, the impact of the new legislation enabling lines companies to run fibre across existing power corridors, and the business model of the future for WISP businesses.
WISPA-NZ has 37 member companies. Details of these can be found on our Members page.
The WISPA.NZ secretariat is managed by Ernie Newman through his consulting company Ernie Newman Consulting Ltd. His contact details are:
The WISPA.NZ Committee comprises:
- Mike Smith UBB – Chair
- Bridget Canning, WIZ – Treasurer
- Chris Roberts, Amuri – Secretary
- Matthew Harrison, Primo
- Regan Mowbray, RexNetworks
- Sue Lubransky, TPNet
- Tom Linn, Wireless Nation
- Trevor Fulton, Velocitynet
If you are not in UBB’s wireless broadband coverage feel free to check out the WISPA provider map here.
Feel free to check out more about UBB’s profile here.
For more info on see the WISPA NZ Website