It’s official: One New Zealand has been crowned “Best in Test” for mobile network performance for the fourth year running, according to independent testing by global leader in mobile testing umlaut, part of Accenture.
This back-to-back-to-back-to-back win highlights One NZ’s commitment to delivering a fast, reliable mobile experience for Kiwis.
Thaigan Govender, General Manager Mobile Access Networks at One New Zealand, explains the winning strategy:
“Our fourth consecutive win is the result of smart, data-driven investment decisions that directly reflect how and where New Zealanders use our network and connectivity services.
“Over the past full year, we’ve invested over $100 million into our mobile network alone, building or upgrading almost 300 cell sites to 4G and 5G across metro, urban and regional areas, plus working with the Rural Connectivity Group. These improvements materially improve coverage and performance in the places Kiwis live, work, and travel.
“We’re stoked to be recognised as best in test for a fourth year running and are motivated to keep improving even further, using real-world data to deliver the best mobile experience in Aotearoa for One NZ customers and wholesale partners.”
What the Testing Found
The umlaut benchmark combines on-the-ground drive testing with crowd-sourced data to evaluate how mobile networks perform in everyday life. Testing covered urban, regional, and rural areas. Testing took place over April / May 2025 combined with 6 months of crowd sourced data.
This Year’s Results
- One New Zealand was ‘best in test’ in New Zealand, scoring 852 points out of 1000 overall (85.2%), compared to 787 for Spark and 789 for 2Degrees.
- One New Zealand is the leader in voice, made up of fastest call setup time, data connectivity during calls and highest call voice quality.
- One New Zealand is the leader on data, made up of web browsing, file downloads and YouTube streaming experience.
- One New Zealand has the most reliable mobile network in New Zealand meaning it leads on the ability to connect voice and data calls and carry these calls with good levels of quality experience.
Continued improvement
Thaigan says while the team is celebrating the win, there’s more to come: “We’ll keep working to improve the network for our customers – whether that’s through coverage and resilience innovation with the recently launched One NZ Satellite or through retiring legacy networks and re-using spectrum as we have planned with our 3G switch off from the end of the year – you can expect things to keep getting better as a One NZ customer.”
Umlaut uses a robust method for measuring network performance, more sophisticated than some other network testers. For the full report click here.
For more information about One NZ’s mobile network, please visit www.one.nz
-ENDS