Cellphone and landline services are down across much of southern Aotea, with Spark customers particularly affected after what is believed to be a fault at the Rosalie Bay Road cell tower.
The tower, which also handles the critical relay link from the top of the Coromandel to the rest of the island, is believed to have suffered a fault.
Spark has listed the issue on its national outage page and says it is being addressed, but has not provided an estimated time of restoration. AoteaGBI.news has reached out to Spark for more details on the cause and expected timeframe for repair.
While Vodafone (One NZ) customers—particularly in the north—appear to have maintained some mobile coverage, Spark users in the south are experiencing widespread disruption to SMS, mobile voice, and landline services.
Starlink internet remains unaffected, and residents with newer iPhones—from the iPhone 14 onwards—should still be able to access emergency SOS satellite texting services.
UPDATE: The fault has been resolved. AoteaGBI.news is seeking clarity on the cause of the outage and the protocols in place should a similar event occur in the future.
