Since 14 December 2009, there have been four separate service incidents affecting our XT clients south of Taupo.

We are sorry for the mobile service issues our clients may have experienced as a result of these interruptions.

We appreciate that these services are critical for many of our clients’ businesses and the services they provide, and can assure you that we are doing everything we can to improve the performance of the XT mobile network.

We have a clear plan to urgently address XT resilience, coverage and capacity as part of our absolute commitment to deliver a world-class XT network.

Our initial investment of $574 million has been bolstered by another $130 million into a network enhancement programme which began late last year.  

Network enhancement programme details
Our programme of work to increase the resilience of the XT network and broaden our coverage has kicked off in earnest.  Our client managers are proactively communicating the details to our clients in the relevant regions, and we are publicising the programme through notifications on our website and in community newspapers.

We are building additional Radio Network Controllers (RNCs) for resilience and performance, as well as voice quality and call drops.  We are rolling out Tower Mounted Amplifiers (TMAs) on over 400 cell sites to deliver clients better coverage, and we are also increasing fibre capacity on around 60 sites to assist with voice quality.

These programmes of work require short planned outages which are mostly scheduled for very early morning or late in the evening.

Radio Network Controller (RNC) Installation Programme
We are currently building two new RNCs in Christchurch and Auckland to manage future capacity. This will bring our number of RNCs to a total of four deployed, with two RNCs in Christchurch and two in Auckland.

These new RNCs will further protect the network from future traffic spikes, increase the resiliency of the network and reduce the number of clients who may be affected in any one area should any unforeseen incidents occur.

We are currently migrating over 200 of our cell sites south of Taupo to the newly completed, second RNC in Christchurch.
 
Tower Mounted Amplifier (TMA) Deployment Programme
The TMA programme has been rolling out since December 2009 to increase the signal strength and footprint for existing cell sites and to reduce dropped call occurrences.

We’re deploying TMAs on over 400 cell sites to improve the sensitivity of the cell tower so that it can pick up signals from cell phones over a larger geographical area.

For updates on the programme of work, see the Telecom Service Status.

Alternatively, for further information, please contact your Gen-i client manager.