One NZ has been ranked New Zealand's top mobile network by umlaut for a fifth consecutive year, with the independent benchmark placing the operator first in every category assessed.
In its 2026 assessment, umlaut ranked One NZ first for Overall Network Experience, Voice Experience, Data Experience, Crowd Experience and Reliability Experience. The published results show the operator achieved its highest overall benchmark score to date.
umlaut's measurements showed One NZ ahead of its closest rivals by 5.6% in Overall Network Experience against 2degrees, 8.7% in Voice Experience against Spark, 2.6% in Data Experience against 2degrees, 1.5% in Crowd Experience against 2degrees and 5.5% in Reliability Experience against 2degrees.
The result extends a run that began in 2021 and keeps pressure on competitors in a market where network quality remains a key point of competition. The benchmark is based on nationwide drive testing and customer experience data gathered from smartphones over a six-month period.
Network spend
Over the past year, One NZ invested more than NZD $100 million in its mobile network and completed about 250 site upgrades and new builds across the country. The work included expanding 4G and 5G services and making changes in locations identified through customer feedback.
It also completed the shutdown of its legacy 2G and 3G networks, allowing spectrum to be reallocated to 4G and 5G services as mobile data usage continued to rise.
The benchmark assessed operators through drive testing over 8,230km across cities, towns and roads in New Zealand. It measured voice, browsing, downlink, uplink, YouTube and latency, then combined those findings with crowd-sourced data reflecting day-to-day user experience across many thousands of devices.
For consumers and business users, the rankings matter because they shape perceptions of call quality, reliability and mobile internet performance in everyday use. Operators increasingly use independent testing results to support claims about coverage and service quality as they invest in newer network technologies.
One NZ said the latest outcome reflected a sustained effort to upgrade and maintain its network, linking the result to investment in infrastructure, coverage, capacity and resilience across New Zealand.
"We know how important it is for New Zealanders to have access to excellent, reliable mobile coverage, and we want them to be better connected with us. For One NZ to be recognised as umlaut's Best in Test winner for the fifth consecutive year is an outstanding achievement for our team, and one we're incredibly proud of.
"What's particularly significant is that this year we've achieved a clean sweep across every category measured by umlaut. These weren't narrow victories - we led the competition across voice, data, reliability and overall network performance.
"Independent benchmarking like umlaut provides one of the most rigorous assessments of network quality available. This result validates the investments we've made and the work our teams do every day to deliver a consistently superior experience for our customers.
"Whether our customers are making calls, streaming content, running businesses, working remotely or staying connected with family and friends, they rely on our network to perform. This recognition demonstrates that One NZ continues to set the benchmark for mobile network performance in New Zealand, offering fantastic mobile coverage that our customers can rely on," said Kieran Byrne, Chief Technology Officer, One NZ.
The New Zealand mobile market has seen operators continue to invest in network upgrades while managing the transition away from older technologies. Retiring 2G and 3G services has become an important step for carriers seeking to use existing spectrum more efficiently for 4G and 5G traffic.
Independent network audits such as umlaut's have become a closely watched measure because they combine laboratory-style road testing with live user data. That gives a broader picture of how a network performs under real conditions rather than in isolated test environments.
In this year's benchmark, One NZ not only retained the overall top spot but also led every category reported by umlaut. The clean sweep marked its clearest margin of leadership in the testing group's annual review of New Zealand's mobile operators.
"We're proud to have maintained our leadership position for five consecutive years, but we're not standing still," said Byrne.