The Commerce Commission’s latest telecommunications monitoring report has LEO back in the news. Less talked about is a large band of radio spectrum sitting idle while the operators who could use it wait on a regulatory step that the rest of the world took years ago. That band is 6 GHz. Here is what it […]
Alex Stewart is the founder and Managing Director of WombatNET, a Wellington-based broadband provider dedicated to improving digital access across New Zealand. Since launching the company at age 14, Alex has led initiatives to deliver innovative, community-focused connectivity solutions to rural and underserved regions. He is passionate about infrastructure, digital equity, and using technology to empower people.
RNZ Nine to Noon on Starlink, rural broadband, and the local providers at risk of closure, with Federated Farmers. Plus context the segment didn’t cover.
WombatNET’s Alex Stewart expands on his 2nd Jun Herald NOW interview: infrastructure dependency stacking, spectrum constraints on local WISPs, and the TDL funding question.
RNZ Midday Rural News on Starlink and rural broadband. Background on the structural risk, the policy context, and what’s at stake for rural New Zealand.
Spectrum allocated asymmetrically. Direct-to-Cell consolidation across mobile carriers. A national security gap at GCSB and NZDF. Ministerial advice withheld under s9(2)(f)(iv). Part 3 sets out the structural decisions that closed off the rural market.
The Commerce Commission’s independent expert warned of LEO satellite monopoly risk in October 2025. MBIE internal documents from May 2024 described the same market as a monopoly while the formal OIA response said no analysis existed. Part 2 sets out what was known and when.
Between October 2025 and March 2026, 28 OIA requests went to 18 government agencies asking what analysis had been done on rural broadband monopoly risk. Sixteen of twenty-one core questions returned “information does not exist.” Part 1 documents the analytical vacuum.
In 2019, I visited a rural community that had been begging for better access to connectivity for years. The big telcos had looked at the area, done the math on how many customers they could sign up, and walked away. The community was told they’d need to raise a few hundred thousand dollars themselves before […]