20 Viaduct Harbour Avenue, Auckland 1010
Private Bag 92250, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Phone 09 355 3553
Website www.AT.govt.nz
8 June 2020
Michael Vaughan
[FYI request #12392 email]
Dear Michael,
Thank you for your email dated 26th May 2020. I am sorry I do not agree with your comments that my previous response
carried incorrect information and that certainly was not the intention.
AT is in the process of changing all the High Intensity Discharge (HID) lights on the network to LED lights. As part of
this process AT is connecting al the LED lights to a dedicated street light Central Management System (CMS). The
CMS was chosen five years ago specifically to manage street lights. The CMS is now well established across the
network and is the only CMS used to manage street lights. We have provided a lot of detail on our CMS in previous
correspondence.
Under the Telecommunications Act, Spark, and other Telco Companies, have the right to instal their equipment on our
street light poles. Spark approached AT around two years ago to carry out a trial “Smart City” demonstration in the
Madden Street, Viaduct Harbour area. Spark set up a demonstration room in a nearby building and with AT’s agreement
they attached four lights to nearby poles in Madden Street. These lights as we understand have inbuilt sensors to count
people, measure air quality and other features. We understand they also include a camera. This information is
communicated back to the nearby demonstration room. We understand this was to demonstrate 5G capability. This
confined ‘Spark trial’ area is in no way connected to the street light network.
Spark is talking to AT to install smart lights in the Viaduct area to provide sensors for the America’s Cup. The lights
Spark offer (with the inbuilt sensors) are not suitable to light the road network. Even if they were we would require
lighting control to be managed via the street light CMS. We have suggested to Spark that their lights with inbuilt sensors
could be attached to our poles but that only the sensors be used, with AT installing the standard light to operate
separately for road lighting purposes.
AT has an established CMS for street lights and we have no plans to use the Spark system for street light control.
Just to be clear all the Telcos, including Spark, have their communications equipment attached to AT street light
poles. As we understand this includes 3G,4G, wi-fi and some 5G equipment. This does not mean they are connected
to the street lights. AT does not manage radio frequency allocation which is used for many applications in the public
space.
I trust this addresses your concerns.
Yours faithfully
Alan Wallace -
Portfolio Delivery Director (AM&R)