Vodafone is kicking off a programme of upgrades to cell sites in Taupo this week ahead of its launch of 4G in the town on 10 July.

In addition to enabling 4G, Taupo’s 2G and 3G cell sites will be also be upgraded, doubling the existing coverage and capacity and further increasing speeds of the Vodafone network in the area.

Tony Baird, Vodafone Head of Networks, says the upgrades are part of the company’s investment to bring the best technologies to New Zealand.

“This major boost to the network in Taupo means all Vodafone customers in the area should really notice a difference; increased speed in more areas – up to twice as fast – and better coverage, particularly in buildings," he says.

“We know this is important to customers, as the rising popularity of smartphones and the explosion of mobile broadband has seen data usage on our network roughly quadruple over the past two years.”

During the upgrades, Vodafone has warned that customers may experience some interruption to mobile service, and will be notified of potential disruption by TXT message.

“We’ll work to minimise the impacts and outage time where we can," Baird added.