78 | RCG cell sites connecting rural NZ The Rural Connectivity Groups Spunlite site at Parakura Bay, in the iconic Bay of Islands, Northland, delivers 4G mobile and broadband services to over 100 homes and businesses. Providing residents and visitors with connectivity at internet and mobile ‘blackspots’ across New Zealand is no easy task. Still, the Rural Connectivity Group (RCG) has now delivered more than 450 live cell sites, which are providing mobile and broadband services from Spark, One NZ, and 2degrees, much to the delight of locals. Communities, business owners, farmers, and contractors servicing the rural sector are reaping the benefits of mobile and broadband services in these remote areas. Their local knowledge has also aided the RCG with finding suitable locations to build the sites in demanding terrain. Mountainous areas of New Zealand, such as the West Coast and central North Island, are difficult to access, have challenging weather conditions, and are often covered in snow. One especially challenging site is the new cell site above Paringa, located between Haast and Fox Glacier. The cell site is up in the snow line, and with only helicopter access to transport the workforce, they were equipped with a tent and food, allowing them to stay on-site for a few days to build the infrastructure. All components were flown to the site, including the tower (in sections), radio equipment, antennae, cabinets, batteries, solar panels, an emergency generator for power backup, and every nut, bolt, and screw. While not every location poses these logistical challenges, it indicates the lengths the RCG team, and its service providers have had to go to when building in 450 locations around rural Aotearoa. RURAL SERVICES » Rural Connectivity Group Randall Johnston Spunlite Limited Managing Director Stuart Wright says his team has played a crucial role in assisting the Rural Connectivity Group (RCG) to provide mobile and internet in rural areas that previously had none. “Landing this contract was a big deal for us and it still is. It’s a very rewarding project for the team to be a part of,” he says of their contribution to the Rural Broadband Initiative Phase 2 (RBI2) and Mobile Black Spot Fund (MBSF) programmes. Manufacturing from its base in Hornby, on Christchurch’s Southern outskirts, Spunlite ramped up production, especially early on when the project was just kicking o . “We provide RCG with ‘Guide Masts’ for rural locations. These are generally 15 to 40 metres tall and that are in sections that bolt together vertically and have guy wires that support them. These designs have been developed by RCG and Spunlite manufacture them. All other free standing monopoles supplied are our designs; we have designed these to the particular speci cations of RCG, the speci c site and New Zealand design requirements and that has worked very well,” he says. “We are also doing roadside communication poles for RCG, which in most cases are a dual use streetlight pole, that don’t require guy wires , and these can vary greatly in height and design up to 15m tall. We also supply them with large Mono Poles, which can be between 10, and 20 metres tall,” Stuart explains. “We work closely with RCG, right through from our designers, fabricators and nally to our dispatch sta , who are then getting completed poles to an RCG yard or to one of their contractors.” “It’s been a signi cant amount of work for us, over quite a long period. So it’s been fantastic and we are very pleased with the relationship we’ve had with them. This work and its consistency has required us to scale up.” With a current sta in excess of 75, Spunlite has grown steadily over the last few years in order to meet the needs of RCG and its other clients and Stuart estimates that at least 20 of them would have been involved with the RCG work. It was a combination of tendering and design and build projects that secured the RCG work for Spunlite back in 2019. Some of the RCG locations are in exposed locations with very high winds, exceeding 500 metres above sea level in some cases so no compromises that may have an impact on strength or longevity are ever made under any circumstances. “It’s highly specialised work and ultimately, we were able to design a suite of towers that met their requirements and there are very detailed standards that we are required to meet. “It’s been great to be a part of the team that is delivering this connectivity to rural New Zealand, especially considering they aren’t viable on a commercial basis and would otherwise not have been done at all.” It’s great for our fabricators to see the end result of their work too, when we get photos of the nal installation, because they don’t often get to see that and it’s rewarding for them as well.” Proud to be part of the solution
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