Press releases, media statements, public commentary, and WombatNET announcements.

Nine to Noon: rural broadband, Starlink, and the providers at risk

Categories
Media

RNZ National’s Nine to Noon aired a segment on 22 June 2026 about rural broadband, Starlink, and local providers now at risk of closure. It featured Mark Hooper, telecommunications spokesperson for Federated Farmers, alongside myself. Audio © Kathryn Ryan, Alex Stewart, Mark Hooper, RNZ National, Nine to Noon, 22 June 2026. Source: rnz.co.nz. – This […]

Rural Broadband’s Starlink Dependency: The Missing Context

Categories
Media

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.

Starlink and Rural Broadband NZ: RNZ Audio and Background

Categories
Media

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.

The Rural Blind Spot | Part 3: In Confidence

Categories
Media

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 Rural Blind Spot | Part 2: They Were Warned

Categories
Media

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.

The Rural Blind Spot | Part 1: Nobody Checked

Categories
Media

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.

Media and brand assets

Categories
Media

If you’re writing about WombatNET, working on a project with us, or just need a clean copy of our logo, this folder has what you’re after. Please use the logos as supplied. Don’t stretch them, recolour them, or put them on a background that makes it hard to read. The photos can be cropped, stylised, […]

A Warship, Radar, and Why Your Wi-Fi May Have Glitched This Week

Categories
Media

How an Australian Warship Interrupted Your Wi-Fi Over the last couple of days, we’ve been tracking a bit of a mystery on our network. Early Wednesday morning, multiple WombatNET internet towers across the Wellington region – even those tucked deep in the Hutt Valley – suddenly started dropping connections. At first, we thought the severe […]