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National | Business

Māori Spectrum Commission tests new ways to broadcast with 5G technology

Māori have rights to 20% of the spectrum, the airwaves that power wireless communication in this country.

Now, the emergence of 5G  technology will expand what Māori can do with mobile technology on a global scale. It will also provide more commercial opportunities for Māori.

The first tranche of Māori spectrum rights gave Aotearoa iwi radio, Whakaata Māori and the mobile provider 2Degrees.

Now 5G or the fifth generation of mobile technology is arriving, with better connectivity for phones, TVs, games, homes and cars and data will be sent faster. It is expected to create new technology and new ways of living.

“This is a new venture. Like our ancestors from Hawaiki, who used technologies as well, we now seek appropriate expertise,” Māori Spectrum Commission chair Piripi Walker says.


More power to Māori for technology.

The Māori Spectrum Commission and overseas partners from Scotland, Ireland and Kenya are testing new ways to broadcast with 5G technology. They're doing this with students at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Bernard Fergusson in Ngāruawāhia.

“What we are trialling here is a completely different way of using the 5G spectrum. One of the opportunities that we have here is for Whakaata Māori to be doing outside broadcasting at a cost that's far less than it's been able to do in the past,” Māori Spectrum Commission spokesperson Antony Royal says.

Broadcast equipment shrinks

With 5G, the large, heavy equipment used to broadcast events like Te Matatini will be reduced to smaller, portable gear. It can be sent and seen anywhere in the world, in an instant.

“Today, we are hosting international spectrum experts who know how to use this new technology at a broadcast level. We are here at this kura kaupapa Māori to put this technology into action,” Walker says.

“We've also got some other experiments lined up including immersive sports broadcasting, and we'd also love to be looking at agritech and robotics and all of these new technologies that the spectrum will allow us to do,” Royal says.

The work at this small Waikato school will be part of a global showcase for 5G.

“This is something that's new right across the world. There is an international broadcasting convention in Amsterdam next month and we'll be highlighting at that convention some of the technology that will be deployed today.”

Royal says it will also mean more commercial opportunities for Māori. “So what we're doing is we are working together with universities and what we want to do is train up the next generation of Māori who can use this technology and we want to be leading, not just here in New Zealand. We want to be leading in the world.”

“They (youth) have become adept at the current technology and devices, mobile phones, Mindcraft, the features of tomorrow, and they will become leaders in this world, reaching their highest potential,” Walker says.