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Otago Daily Times
10-06-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Visitors shouldn't interfere
It is the curious case of the Royal Australian Navy and New Zealand's internet, with more than a passing nod to Isaac Newton's third law of motion. It would be difficult to make this stuff up. As HMAS Canberra, the fleet flagship of our transtasman cousins, sailed along the New Zealand coast and into Cook Strait last week on its way to berth in Wellington, its navigational radar interfered with internet services in Taranaki, Manawatū, Nelson and Marlborough. The blocking of wireless internet and radio services early last Wednesday morning did not last long for some of those regions, though it appears the South Island outages lasted hours, with the ship offshore for most of the day. Once complaints from providers and users were raised with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Radio Spectrum Management, the New Zealand Defence Force was notified, which in turn let its Australian counterparts know what was happening, prompting them to change the radar's frequency. It appears the radar impeded the 5-gigahertz wireless access points which bridge the wired and wireless networks onshore. Interference from the radar on the Canberra tripped the switches on the access points and knocked them offline, an inbuilt precaution to stop wireless signals affecting aviation radar used in New Zealand airspace. MBIE has explained that the country uses different bands of the radio spectrum for different purposes, some of which are shared and available for anyone's use, including the bands for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The interference from the ship was in one such band. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, Newton says — in this case, the Australian navy knocking out New Zealand internet. It is somewhat unfortunate that the ship's visit was meant to cement goodwill and the sister-city relationship between Wellington and Canberra. And it seems ironic, worrying actually, that if the most friendly of visitors can black out parts of the nation, what might less well-disposed visitors be able to do? Even without a great deal of technological knowledge, it also seems surprising that such a cutting-edge naval system would be using the same parts of the spectrum as everyday Wi-Fi users on land. HMAS Canberra. Photo: Department of Defence As if we needed any more reminding, this incident highlights the fragility of New Zealand's infrastructure. This was just a random event, an unfortunate coincidence that operators on board the Canberra were using the same frequency, but the fact it happened at all is concerning and shows a potential weakness in the system. One of the biggest issues facing the viability of our country over the next several decades is the robustness of existing infrastructure, the cost of its replacement and an ongoing commitment from political parties to build projects which may take several terms of government to complete. New Zealand's leaders are poor at looking beyond the three-year horizon and planning for what may be required by the next generation or generations. The glacial pace of the construction of Dunedin's new hospital is a good example of this. Once upon a time, we had the nous and determination to build major developments, though often at the expense of the environment. Today we quite rightly think more about the environment, but we seem to have lost that expertise for big builds. Taranaki broadband company Primo's managing director, Matthew Harrison, told RNZ internet and phone providers had been asking for a broader spectrum for years to ensure frequencies did not have to be shared. "This is a prime example of what can happen when we're not ... afforded the same spectrum as what some of the bigger players may be, like Starlink and Spark," he said. Telecommunication Users Association chief executive Craig Young agrees there are weaknesses in the radio spectrum and says rural and regional users are especially vulnerable to such interference. Clearly something needs to be done to ensure such failures do not occur again. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says Defence Minister Judith Collins is finding out more about how it happened, and says it was clearly not a "deliberate" action from those on the ship. Lessons have been learned, and now action needs to be taken to stop something like this happening. After all, people's lives and livelihoods are now inextricably linked with the internet.
RNZ News
06-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
HMAS Canberra accidentally blocks wireless internet and radio services in New Zealand
By Andrew Thorpe , ABC At 230 metres long, HMAS Canberra is the Royal Australian Navy's largest vessel. Photo: AFP The Department of Defence has acknowledged that HMAS Canberra , the Royal Australian Navy's largest warship, accidentally took out a number of wireless internet and radio services across New Zealand earlier this week during a visit intended to celebrate the sister city relationship between Canberra and Wellington. The incident occurred early on Wednesday morning, as the 230-metre navy flagship made its way through the Cook Strait en route to New Zealand's capital, where the ship's crew is set to be welcomed with a parade and concert on Saturday. According to local internet service providers (ISPs), HMAS Canberra' s navigation radar began interfering with 5GHz wireless access points - devices that bridge wired and wireless networks - in regions on both New Zealand's North and South Islands at around 2am. Wireless internet and radio outages caused by HMAS Canberra. Photo: ABC News The radar interference triggered in-built switches in the devices that caused them to go offline, a safety precaution intended to prevent wireless signals from interfering with radar systems in New Zealand's airspace. Stuff reported that the outages were first raised with Radio Spectrum Management, an agency within the government's business ministry. The agency notified the New Zealand Defence Force, which notified the Australian Defence Force. "On becoming aware, HMAS Canberra changed frequencies rectifying the interference," a spokesperson for Australia's Department of Defence said. "There are no ongoing disruptions." The outages affected wireless internet and radio services in Taranaki and Marlborough regions, the spokesperson added. Matthew Harrison, managing director of New Zealand-based ISP Primo, said he had never seen anything like the incident before. "This wasn't just a blip. It was full-scale, military-grade radar triggering built-in safety protocols … and it rolled across our network in sync with the ship's movement," he wrote on LinkedIn. "It's not every day a warship takes your gear offline!" Harrison said the incident underlined the fragility of New Zealand's radio spectrum environment, with rural fixed wireless services having to share a frequency band with radar systems. -ABC
