1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: One, New Zealand has been given the go ahead to 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: start testing of their Starlink satellite to mobile service here 3 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:08,760 Speaker 1: in New Zealand. So forty percent of the country currently 4 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: has no mobile coverage and One in New Zealand z 5 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,680 Speaker 1: says satellite to sell plays a vital role in keeping 6 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:20,599 Speaker 1: people connected, and the CEO of One New Zealand to 7 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:22,920 Speaker 1: Jason Paris, joins me, Now, good. 8 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,160 Speaker 2: Evening, good. How does this technology work? 9 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 3: So it's think the cell towers that you see around 10 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 3: your neighborhood. Some people like them, some people admittedly. What 11 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:44,839 Speaker 3: happens is they basically get strapped to satellites, and then 12 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 3: those satellites get strapped to rockets, and then the rockets 13 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 3: get launched three hundred and fifty kilometers up into space 14 00:00:54,560 --> 00:01:00,880 Speaker 3: into lower orbit, and then those satellites they get distributed 15 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 3: into a constellation of other satellites. It may beam signals 16 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:11,520 Speaker 3: back to your mobile phone back in little old New 17 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 3: Zealand to allow you to be able to make a 18 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:19,400 Speaker 3: text message, make a phone call, or use or use data. 19 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 3: So it's quite extraordinary technology that we're bringing. 20 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:25,440 Speaker 2: To the New zeal On, Jason, how many satellites do 21 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 2: you need? 22 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 3: So it depends on what you want to do. So 23 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 3: if you want to text, you need about three hundred, 24 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 3: which we're on track to have by the end of 25 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:40,480 Speaker 3: the year. So these rockets with satellites on them are 26 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:47,119 Speaker 3: being launched every week. To do voice, you need fifteen hundred, 27 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 3: so oney five hundred of them. The reason you need 28 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 3: more with voice is you need constant coverage. When you've 29 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:59,280 Speaker 3: got when you're making a phone call, it can't drop 30 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 3: where when you got when you're doing a text message. 31 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 3: If I sent you to a text and it took 32 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:06,280 Speaker 3: a minute to send and for you to receive it, 33 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 3: you wouldn't know that. And if then you receive and 34 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 3: send a text message, expect to me, I wouldn't know 35 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,680 Speaker 3: that it took an extra a minute to do that. 36 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 3: So you need three hundred with satellites to do text messaging, 37 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 3: and there'd be a delay of a few minutes. But 38 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 3: you need a lot more than that if you want 39 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:28,120 Speaker 3: to do our voice, which is about twelve months later. 40 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:31,919 Speaker 1: Testing is going to kick off very shortly. What does 41 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: the testing look like? 42 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 3: So we have done a bunch of testing so far. 43 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 3: Already we have sent text messages and we've tested also 44 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:48,360 Speaker 3: the kind of we've altered in some video calling, but 45 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 3: we now need to do that at scale, and so 46 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:54,320 Speaker 3: we just got to approve all this suite from the FCC, 47 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 3: which is the US regulator, to be able to launch 48 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:02,519 Speaker 3: this service for a testing perspective in New Zealand. So 49 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 3: from the next week we'll do ten weeks testing. We'll 50 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 3: do that testing on a whole bunch of different devices, 51 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 3: so a range of different smartphones. We'll use those smartphones 52 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:19,800 Speaker 3: smartphones all and run across the country in different places, 53 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 3: just to make sure that before we launch this to 54 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 3: everyone that we're confident that it works on every device 55 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,560 Speaker 3: that we say it can and all the locations that 56 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 3: we've said it would. 57 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 2: How much coverage will this give New Zealand. 58 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 3: So just to explain again, the satellites when they are 59 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:48,360 Speaker 3: up in lower orbits, they've beam back down from space 60 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 3: to New Zealand. So the advantage that you have with 61 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 3: this coverage from space is that it covers the higher country. 62 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 3: So in a satellite flying through space at twenty seven 63 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 3: thousand kilometers an hour, that's how fast they are going, 64 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 3: and there's another one right behind it, they are constantly 65 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:14,120 Speaker 3: beaming signals back down to New Zealand. So at the 66 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:17,719 Speaker 3: moment we've got forty percent of the country that doesn't 67 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 3: have coverage, that doesn't have three G or four G 68 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 3: or five G coverage. This will sort that and it 69 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 3: will also mean that right out to see So our 70 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:33,839 Speaker 3: license is twelve nautical miles off the coast of New Zealand. 71 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 3: It means even if you're in a fishing boat, then 72 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:39,680 Speaker 3: you will be able to have a smartphone in your 73 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:44,200 Speaker 3: hand see the sky and you'll be able to send 74 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:49,479 Speaker 3: a text message. Once we've been demonstrating and finish all 75 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:53,320 Speaker 3: the testing, that seeing the sky is an important another 76 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 3: important one, Francisca. So at the moment we know that 77 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,359 Speaker 3: if you can see the sky service works. We know 78 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,280 Speaker 3: that it actually works if you're in a room and 79 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 3: you've got you and you're by the window. We need 80 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 3: to do a whole bunch of other testing inside and 81 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:16,800 Speaker 3: outside buildings, the bridges and dense bush all that type 82 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:19,960 Speaker 3: of stuff to make sure that when we say to 83 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 3: someone if you're a remote part of New Zealand and 84 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 3: you need to you need to get in contact with 85 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:27,480 Speaker 3: someone that you can. 86 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 2: When will the service be on offer to the public. 87 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:35,839 Speaker 3: So in the early in the New Year, that the 88 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:41,159 Speaker 3: plan was to launch this in twenty twenty four. The 89 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 3: delay he wasn't actually from a technical perspective, So the 90 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 3: rockets has been launching on time. All of the satellites 91 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 3: are working well. The testing that I said it was 92 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:57,280 Speaker 3: afore work pretty well. But there were a few complaints 93 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 3: from Talco's in the United States who thought that the 94 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:10,160 Speaker 3: satellite service might interfere with their existing networks, and the SCC, 95 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:12,720 Speaker 3: which is the US regulator, how to take its time 96 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:17,919 Speaker 3: to work through that. That's now been sorted and we 97 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,839 Speaker 3: can move into testing. Our government, by the way, has 98 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:24,560 Speaker 3: given us approval to launch this service many months ago, 99 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:29,800 Speaker 3: so there's been no similar concern from from New Zealand 100 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 3: that the way that we're deploying this technology will interfere 101 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 3: with existing with existing networks. 102 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Jason for talking us through that. 103 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 2: That was CEO of One New Zealand, Jason Paris. 104 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive listen live to 105 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow 106 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:48,720 Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio.