New Zealand’s two smaller mobile operators have gone further than sharing towers. One NZ and 2degrees have jointly proposed combining their radio access network (RAN) infrastructure into a new, separately owned wholesale company that would own, manage and operate the active kit on mobile sites, then sell network services back to each parent under separate wholesale agreements.
This is not the passive infrastructure the industry already consolidated. Towers, land and power were carved out years ago. The RAN is the active layer, the electronics and antennas that connect handsets to the network. Sharing that means One NZ and 2degrees would run two retail brands on top of one physical network, competing on price, plans and service, but no longer on the underlying hardware.
Incoming One NZ chief executive Nick Judd said the proposal would deliver “real benefits for customers by enabling us to deliver better connectivity,” including “faster access to new technologies such as 6G, and improving overall network resilience.” One NZ would keep its spectrum rights, core networks, fibre backhaul and satellite. The deal needs sign-off from both the Commerce Commission and the Overseas Investment Office.
Why now, and why it is bigger than it looks
The timing is not accidental. Weeks earlier, Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith reshaped the competitive field. Cabinet approved renewing only 70% of Spark and One NZ’s spectrum in the 2600MHz band, freeing 30% for 2degrees when licences expire in 2028. The disparity it targets is real: 2degrees holds just 16% of total mobile spectrum against Spark’s 33% and One NZ’s 34%, with a Cabinet paper warning that large spectrum gaps constrain smaller operators.
Active network sharing already works here. The Rural Connectivity Group, a joint venture between all three carriers and the Crown, has extended 4G and 3G into underserved rural communities. The One NZ and 2degrees plan takes that logic national and urban. It also lands as the Commission itself has grown warmer to market-led sharing. In February 2026 it found tower sales to Connexa and FortySouth plus RCG sharing had “radically changed how mobile coverage is delivered in New Zealand” and opened the door to deregulating a 25-year-old co-location regime.
That sequence, tower consolidation cleared in 2023, then One NZ’s Dense Air spectrum deal cleared in 2024, points one direction. But active RAN sharing between two of three networks is a materially larger structural step than sharing steel and land.
What it means for business customers
For telecoms buyers the case cuts both ways. The upside is genuine. Fewer coverage gaps where one operator has a site and the other does not, faster 5G and eventual 6G rollout, better resilience from a more robust shared network, and potentially lower wholesale costs that could reach retail pricing. For rural and regional businesses, the coverage argument is compelling, and the RCG model already proves the concept works.
The risk is subtler. If network quality stops being a differentiator between One NZ and 2degrees, competition collapses onto price and service alone. Good for short-term costs, but it can thin out investment incentives over time. Multi-site businesses that historically chose an operator on coverage grounds may find that distinction quietly disappears.
International precedent from the UK, Germany, Australia and Scandinavia suggests regulators generally approve these arrangements, usually with conditions on non-discriminatory wholesale access and transparency. The Commission’s real test is whether retail competition survives intact when two of three networks share the machinery underneath. Get the conditions right and this is better coverage at lower cost. Get them wrong and New Zealand ends up with a two-player infrastructure duopoly wearing three brands.
Source: https://b2bnews.co.nz/news/one-nz-2degrees-seek-shared-mobile-network/
