One New Zealand moved to purchase Dense Air’s business in the country, forging an agreement which includes mid-band spectrum it will use to improve 4G and 5G services.

The acquisition will give the operator access to 2x35MHz of 2.6GHz spectrum until the end of 2028, when it can apply to renew the management rights.

One NZ CEO Jason Paris stated the new spectrum will boost network capacity, which means increased availability for fixed wireless access at faster data rates.

The deal is subject to approval by the Commerce Commission and other customary closing conditions.

OneNZ explained the move is part of an ongoing network improvement initiative, with the operator receiving 80MHz of 3.5GHz spectrum from the government, and deploying and upgrading 500 4G and 5G sites over the past 18 months.

Dense Air is a provider of small cell services with spectrum assets in New Zealand.

In April 2020 it loaned One NZ (then Vodafone New Zealand) its 2.6GHz spectrum for three months to handle a spike in data usage spurred by Covid-19 (coronavirus) lockdown measures.