Comms Connect NZ: conference preview

The 10th anniversary edition of Comms Connect New Zealand — the Southern Hemisphere’s premier critical communications and public safety event — is coming up soon, and it’s set to feature some of the best critical comms and public safety expert speakers from across Aotearoa and the region.

Over 40 technology vendors will make their way to Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre from 4–5 June 2025, giving event attendees the chance to examine products up close, witness exclusive demonstrations, and ask all their burning questions (exhibition-only entry is free to qualified industry professionals). The accompanying conference will meanwhile see over 30 expert speakers present across two streams, covering the latest critical communications technologies, applications and case studies.

The opening keynote, presented by Matthew Hansen from Next Generation Critical Communications (NGCC) and Vaughan Matthews from Hourua, will outline the future roadmap for New Zealand’s Public Safety Network (PSN). Helmed by NGCC, the PSN marked a significant milestone in December last year with the launch of its new Cellular Priority service; this means Police, Wellington Free Ambulance, Hato Hone St John, and Fire and Emergency New Zealand will get access to both Spark and One New Zealand cellular networks ahead of other users if there is congestion or degradation on those networks, like what might be experienced during large concerts, sporting events and natural disasters. Once complete, the PSN is set to be one of the largest P25 networks in the world, and will no doubt be discussed further when Kerei Gray from NZ Police and Mike Head from Tait International seek to answer the question “What’s next for P25 in NZ?” in their presentation.

Keynote speaker Sharina Nisha, GM Network Services at One NZ, will speak on the launch of her company’s satellite-to-mobile coverage, which has been gradually rolling out to Kiwi customers since December last year. Delivered in partnership with Starlink, the satellite service gives users with a VoLTE-capable roaming device the ability to send and receive text messages wherever they have clear line of sight to the sky — and recently proved invaluable when Cyclone Tam caused mobile cell sites to lose power, with One NZ opening the service to customers north of Hamilton for the duration of the outage. Starlink has also enabled the development of IP-connected VHF networks for backcountry search-and-rescue scenarios — previously considered impossible without a huge infrastructure budget — as Matt Ellingham from Land Search and Rescue New Zealand will explain.

Day two will feature a keynote speech from Brenden Winder, Head of Emergency Management for Christchurch City Council, who will provide his expert view on the importance of critical communications in emergency management. He will be followed by Sam Kommunuri, Senior Enterprise Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services, who will explore the secure implementation of generative AI in high-stakes public safety environments, drawing on real-world applications. And speaking of AI, Fraser Paine, Director of Aware Group, will provide a fascinating look at the agentic future of AI network management.

Other highlights include insights into areas including cybersecurity, machine learning and the IoT, as well as practical case studies covering organisations such as Surf Life Saving New Zealand, Nelson Coastguard and GetHomeSafe. Panel discussions at the end of each day will bring together multiple speakers to explore the topics of ‘Emerging technologies and their impact on critical communications’ and ‘Future opportunities for New Zealand’s critical communications sector’, respectively.

The event is being run with the support of the Radio Frequency Users Association of New Zealand (RFUANZ), which will be holding its AGM at the conference venue after lunch on day one and its annual gala dinner following the day one networking drinks. The dinner will include the presentation of the RFUANZ Industry Excellence Awards, which are a celebration of outstanding achievement and a way to acknowledge the many forms of excellence in the NZ comms industry. Awards nominations can be made at rfuanz.org.nz/awards/ until 5 May, while dinner registration is available at rfuanz.org.nz/gala-dinner/.

For more details on the conference and exhibition, or to register for your ticket, visit www.comms-connect.co.nz. Discounts are available for group registration and early-bird rates are available until 2 May.

What: Comms Connect New Zealand
When: 4–5 June 2025
Where: Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre
Web: www.comms-connect.co.nz