The telecommunications market in New Zealand is fully liberalised and ultra-competitive. Fixed line communications exist in a structurally separated market, with many wholesale infrastructure providers prohibited from competing in the retail space, and retailers having equal access to copper and fibre last mile connectivity on a national basis. Three cellular providers operate infrastructure networks, and there are five national fibre networks connecting cities and towns with 80% or more of the population.
Until 2017, New Zealand's sole modern submarine cables were operated by the Southern Cross Cable Network
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. SCCN cables link New Zealand to Sydney and Hawaii, though due to the pricing of connectivity in Hawaii, all of New Zealand's US-bound capacity exits on the west coast of the United States. 2017 saw the Tasman Global
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Access (TGA) cable, a new high-speed link to Sydney, come into production.
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In 2018 the Hawaiki cable came online. The Sydney to Oregon cable branches to New Zealand and has a landing in Honolulu. It's a unique project in that it's privately backed, not funded by a consortium of telcos who might restrict its use.
New Zealand hosts several satellite earth stations, and terminates traffic for a number of Pacific islands and parts of Antarctica.