Spark NZ Shareholder Newsletter

Spark Shareholder Update
November 2026
01SPARK SHAREHOLDER UPDATE | NOVEMBER 2026
Welcome to our shareholder newsletter
Our full- and half-year results provide the formal milestones for
reporting on our performance and our progress against our five-
year strategy SPK-30 – but we also want to give shareholders a
clear view of the progress we are making in between. To that end,
this newsletter provides an overview of the momentum we have
built across the business during the first three months of FY27.
We intend to release two shareholder newsletters annually,
released in-between both reporting periods. While these
newsletters will not provide a formal trading update, they will
overview progress against key strategic priorities. We hope you
find the newsletter useful and we welcome your feedback.
Strategy progress in first three months of FY27
The first three months of FY27 have reinforced the priorities Spark
set under our five-year business strategy, SPK-30. Mobile service
revenue remains strong, following a return to growth in FY26,
network leadership has strengthened, and new propositions
across mobile devices, distribution, and household connectivity
are now in market. As we shared at our ASM, FY27 guidance
remains unchanged.
These are early steps in SPK-30, but together they show the
strategy taking shape – growing our core connectivity business
by attracting more people to Spark, increasing the value of each
relationship, and giving our loyal customers more reasons to stay.
The broader economic backdrop also reinforces the importance
of Spark’s focus on disciplined growth in our core business. While
New Zealand’s economy is gradually recovering, both households
and businesses remain cautious. Consumer confidence has
improved from the lows of recent years but remains below
long-run averages, reflecting ongoing pressure on household
budgets and careful spending decisions. Business confidence
has strengthened as expectations for economic growth improve,
however many organisations continue to prioritise productivity,
efficiency, and value for money in their investment decisions.
With households and businesses remaining focused on value,
we are concentrating investment where we can differentiate
and earn appropriate returns. Mobile is the primary growth
priority, complemented by broadband and business
connectivity, and enabled by network leadership and better
customer experiences. At the same time, we are applying AI and
automation to improve customer experience, productivity and
reduce costs across the business.
Alongside this, we are reviewing the future of our Digital
Services businesses – spanning cloud, IT services, data and
AI – to determine how we can create the greatest long-term
value for our shareholders. The review is intended to determine
the ownership and operating structure most likely to support
the growth of these businesses, while ensuring Spark remains
focused on growth in our core business.
Industry developments and our network focus
There have been several developments across the
telecommunications sector in recent months. One NZ and
2degrees have proposed combining their radio access
network infrastructure in a jointly owned wholesale business.
This would entail a significant change to industry structure
and needs to be carefully considered. The proposal remains
subject to Commerce Commission and Overseas Investment
Office approvals, and those processes will need to run
their course.
In the meantime, our focus remains on our own strategy and
delivering better network experiences for our customers.
Our network leadership across 5G, coverage and download
speed, enabled by our investments in radio access network
infrastructure, spectrum holdings, core network capability,
global technology partnerships, and operational expertise,
gives us a strong platform to execute SPK-30.
In June this year the Government announced its intended
approach to renewing spectrum rights in the 2300MHz and
2600MHz bands. As we said at the time, we do not expect the
proposed changes to have a material direct impact on our
operations. We do, however, continue to advocate for clear
and predictable settings that support sustained, long-term
investment, and will continue to engage constructively once
a new Government is formed.
Satellite is another important development in the connectivity
landscape. We see satellite as complementary to our mobile
network – broadening coverage and resilience in remote
areas and blackspots – rather than a replacement for our
terrestrial network. Our mobile network still has significant
competitive advantages over satellite, including the customer
density it can carry, its performance indoors, and the
throughput required for everyday use. Together with Spark’s
extensive spectrum holdings, these capabilities establish our
competitive advantage and strengthen our role as a critical
infrastructure provider.

Spark welcomes a new Chair
At our 2026 Annual Shareholder’s
Meeting on November 6, we
officially welcomed Vince
Hawksworth as Chair.
Vince succeeds Justine Smyth who
retires after 15 years on the Board,
including seven years as Chair,
during a period that included the
transformation of Telecom into
Spark. Drawing on his extensive experience leading critical
infrastructure businesses in New Zealand and Australia,
Vince said he was excited to become Chair of a company that
plays such an important role in the lives of New Zealanders.
“Millions of New Zealanders rely on our services every day.
Businesses rely on our networks. Communities rely on our
infrastructure. And as technology continues to evolve, strong
connectivity becomes more important, not less.”
Vince said his approach as Chair would be grounded in
clarity, focus, and consistent execution, with priorities
including effective oversight, supporting and challenging
management, disciplined decisions on behalf of
shareholders, and helping Spark realise the opportunities
created by SPK-30.
Welcoming our new Chief Operating Officer
Tommy Björkberg will join Spark as
Chief Operating Officer in November
2026, with responsibility for network
operations, business technology
services, and cyber security –
capabilities central to building a
more automated, resilient, and
efficient operating model. He brings
more than 25 years of international
telecommunications and technology leadership experience
across mobile and fixed networks, cloud and
digital infrastructure.
Tommy joins Spark from KPN, the Netherlands’ largest
telecommunications provider, where he was Vice President
Network and Cloud and led strategy, transformation and
architecture across fixed, mobile, IP, cloud and IT. He has
also held senior roles at Telefónica UK (O2), Ericsson, and
ZTE, working across Europe and Asia on large-scale network
transformation and the use of AI and automation to improve
customer experience and operational efficiency.
Tommy says “Spark is the type of telco that I like to work for.
You are the market leader, you have the biggest footprint – you
are essentially underpinning the digital economy of a country.”
02SPARK SHAREHOLDER UPDATE | NOVEMBER 2026
Mobile: the primary growth engine
Accelerating growth in mobile is central to SPK-30, and the
return to mobile service revenue growth in FY26 provides a
strong platform to build from. The focus now is accelerating
that momentum – growing connections, improving plan mix,
increasing the value of each relationship, and reducing churn.
Devices supporting customer growth
We were pleased to see total iPhone acquisition volumes
during the recent launch of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max up
40% year-on-year – demonstrating the strength of our offers
across retail and digital channels.
Mobile devices are critical to service revenue growth because
they create opportunities to attract new customers, move more
customers onto higher-value plans, where suitable, and support
longer-term customer relationships through flexible interest-
free payment options.
Following the iPhone campaign we launched a new programme
called Spark Upgrader – designed to turn strong customer
demand for new devices into longer-term value for both Spark
and customers. Upgrader makes it easier for customers to
upgrade their existing mobile phone by combining its trade-in
value with current offers and loyalty benefits, then spreading
the remaining cost over 24- or 36-months interest-free on
an eligible pay-monthly plan. For customers, this delivers
maximum value when they are purchasing a new device. For
Spark, this creates an opportunity to attract new customers,
move more customers onto appropriate pay-monthly and
higher-value plans and support retention.
Through our dual brand strategy, Skinny provides another
avenue for growth among value-conscious customers. Our
new partnership with Woolworths’ Everyday Rewards allows
customers to purchase Skinny products and top-ups at
Woolworths stores and earn Everyday Rewards points on
eligible Skinny spend. Over 33,000 Skinny customers signed up
in the first few weeks – an early indicator of engagement with
the partnership.

Growing the value of household relationships
Spark has the largest market share in both mobile and
broadband, but there is considerable headroom to deepen
these customer relationships. Just over half of Spark broadband
customers also have their mobile service with Spark, leaving a
significant opportunity to bring more of these customers across
to Spark mobile, and vice versa.
Spark is rolling out a new programme to offer greater value to
customers who bring more of their services together with Spark.
This has kicked off with eligible broadband-only customers who
could add a pay-monthly mobile plan, and will then switch to
mobile-only customers during the peak broadband switching
period over summer.
We are also focussed on rebuilding momentum in wireless
broadband, which uses Spark’s own mobile network to deliver
broadband services. Wireless broadband gives customers more
flexibility and choice at a variety of price points, while improving
Spark’s broadband economics. A new plan line-up will launch
shortly, supported by a campaign to highlight the convenience
and value benefits of wireless.
Connecting digital, retail, and care experiences
for customers with a new Spark app
Spark has released the next generation of its app, giving
customers a simpler way to manage their relationship with
Spark, and bring usage, billing, payments, settings, support and
relevant offers into one place.
The new app is part of a broader effort to create a more joined-
up customer experience across Spark’s digital, retail, and care
channels, so customers can move between them without having
to repeat information or restart their journey.
With almost 90% of Spark pay-monthly mobile sales taking place
in a retail store, the aim is not to move every customer interaction
online. Instead, Spark is making its app, stores, and customer
care channels work better together so customers can move
between them without repeating information or restarting their
journey. This will make things much easier for our customers,
while improving sales conversion and improving the efficiency of
our care teams.
Network advantage and resilience
Spark recognised for network leadership across 5G,
coverage and speed
Spark has been named New Zealand’s Best 5G Network
after securing six outright wins and three joint wins in
the latest independent Opensignal mobile experience
awards. Our outright wins included overall network
coverage, 5G network coverage, time on 5G, 5G
reliability, download speed, and 5G download speed,
while we were also a joint winner for reliability, video,
and 5G video.
The breadth of these results reflects the strength of
Spark’s network across coverage, speed, and reliability.
Continued investment in our network is an important
part of how we differentiate in an increasingly
competitive connectivity market, strengthening the
experience customers receive while supporting our
ability to attract and retain customers over time.
Strong satellite uptake
We are also extending the reach and value of
connectivity beyond the mobile network through
satellite. In our first six months of partnership with
Starlink, more than 237,000 customers connected to
Spark Satellite, using more than 7.1 million megabytes
of data and sending more than 323,000 satellite
text messages. We have recently launched Internet
of Things (IoT) satellite connectivity to extend the
capability for businesses even further. The value is
therefore broader than direct satellite revenue – wider
coverage and resilience can underpin new services,
strengthen the appeal of higher-value plans, and
support retention.
03SPARK SHAREHOLDER UPDATE | NOVEMBER 2026

Review of Digital Services
As part of SPK-30, Spark has announced a strategic review of
its Digital Services businesses, which span cloud, IT services,
data and AI. These businesses have strong market positions
and sit outside Spark’s sharpened focus on its core connectivity
business. The review will consider the future ownership and
structure of Digital Services, with the aim of supporting growth
and creating long-term value for shareholders. No outcome has
been reached, and Spark expects to provide a further update
with its FY27 half-year results in February 2027.
Digital Services continues to serve and win customers. Recent
wins include an ICT services agreement with Auckland Airport
and work by our data and AI team Qrious to modernise the data
foundations supporting Kiwibank’s critical programmes.
Leveraging AI to improve performance
Spark’s approach to AI is focused on practical outcomes in three
areas: improving customer experiences, supporting our people
to be more effective, and strengthening business performance
over time.
For customers, AI assistants now support frontline advisers,
answering around 2000 internal questions each month and
reducing queries sent to operations and back-office teams.
AI-generated call summaries are also saving approximately
1.5–2 minutes per interaction while creating more consistent
customer records.
For our people, Spark is moving beyond individual productivity
tools to apply AI across teams and processes. AI is being
embedded across the software development lifecycle, helping
our engineers write and test code, support system migrations
and check changes faster while still maintaining human oversight
and quality controls.
For business performance, AI and automation are increasingly
embedded in network operations to identify issues earlier,
reduce manual effort and resolve incidents faster. Spark is
also expanding the use of AI-powered network optimisation
technology, which has contributed to a 15% network-wide
improvement in effective capacity since 2019 and provides
real-time insights to support increasingly automated network
planning and management.
04SPARK SHAREHOLDER UPDATE | NOVEMBER 2026
Key dates
• Februar y 2027: Spark FY27 half-year results.
• August 2027: Spark FY27 full-year results.
• November 2027: Spark 2027 Annual Meeting
of Shareholders.
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Sustainable connectivity
Our approach to environmental sustainability is focused on
reducing our emissions while supporting the resilience and
efficiency of the connectivity infrastructure New Zealand
relies on. In FY26, Scope 1 and 2 emissions were 59% below
our FY20 baseline, ahead of our FY30 target to reduce them
by 56%. This progress reflects a continued focus on energy
efficiency and renewable electricity, including our renewable
energy partnership with Genesis. As network capacity and data
demand grows, maintaining this trajectory will require us to keep
improving energy performance across our networks, buildings
and fleet, while working with suppliers to reduce emissions
across the wider value chain.
Skinny Jump recently marked a decade of operations –
demonstrating how Spark’s connectivity capability can support
broader digital inclusion across Aotearoa. Since launching
in 2016, the programme has connected more than 100,000
households, with more than 39,000 households currently
connected. Skinny Jump’s network of community partners
provide trusted local distribution and help reach people who
might otherwise remain offline.
Together, lower emissions, more resilient networks, and wider
digital inclusion support Spark’s role as a trusted provider
of critical national infrastructure and strengthens our licence
to operate.