Manning told the Herald: \u201cWe have advertised the business for sale as a going concern. All interested parties should contact the liquidators as a priority. We are currently liaising with several interested parties.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first liquidator\u2019s report, released today, lists total assets and Evolution\u2019s total deficit as \u201cunknown\u201d at this point. <\/p>\n
Funds on hand at the time of the liquidation were $5963 with debts \u2013 still being assessed \u2013 somewhere north of $462,000.<\/p>\n
There are two secured creditors: ANZ Bank, owed $82,446, and Cheryl Renouf Ltd (owner of MTF Finance Whakat\u0101ne), owed $32,443.<\/p>\n
The preferential creditors are employees, owed $21,031, and Inland Revenue, due $17,775 in PAYE and GST.<\/p>\n
Unsecured creditors include Stratus Blue Loan, owed $55,976, trade creditors owed $225,564 and former shareholder the \u014cp\u014dtiki District Council, which extended a $27,000 loan.<\/p>\n
The \u014cp\u014dtiki District Council took a 30% stake in Evolution in its 2018\/19 financial year to \u201cincrease connectivity within the district and wider Eastern Bay of Plenty\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cEvolution specialises in providing high-speed wireless internet connections to remote rural areas other internet service providers have ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n
In October last year, the council discussed Evolution in a meeting from which the public were excluded.<\/p>\n
In July this year, the council\u2019s shares were transferred to Tauranga entrepreneur Tony Snow \u2013 a director of Evolution since 2016 \u2013 and the firm\u2019s sole director and shareholder at the time of its liquidation.<\/p>\n
The council\u2019s 2023\/24 annual report lists its Evolution investment as worth $120,000. <\/p>\n
\u2018Don\u2019t rely on a billionaire\u2019<\/p>\n
While the sums involved are modest, Jesse Archer, owner of another Bay of Plenty internet service provider, Full Flavour, says Evolution\u2019s collapse represents broader challenges for wireless internet service providers.<\/p>\n
\u201cBroadly, things remain stable across wisp-land. The latest Commerce Commission rural market-monitoring report [released in July] shows wisps continuing to grow their share of the rural broadband market, up roughly one percentage point year-on-year despite Starlink\u2019s arrival,\u201d Archer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere we do have real pressure is spectrum. The sector urgently needs another 40MHz of 3GHz band released to keep up with capacity demands, along with access to 6GHz spectrum \u2013 as has already happened in Australia and the United States.”<\/p>\n
In 2023, the previous Government forwent its usual airwaves auction in favour of granting Spark, One NZ and 2degrees 80MHz of free spectrum each in the 5G-friendly 3.5GHz band \u2013 with the quid pro quo that each would spend at least $24m, on top of their existing budgets, on expanding their rural coverage. <\/p>\n
Wispa to a scream<\/p>\n
Wispa has been pushing for a meaningful spectrum allocation for its 30 members, too, arguing that small, nimble players are best-placed to fill rural gaps.<\/p>\n
In March, Wispa chairman Mike Smith told the Herald: \u201cAccess to unused and incredibly valuable spectrum is being roadblocked and in my view strangling regional operators, wisps who have built infrastructure to utilise this spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 40MHz current allocation is not enough to be useful, this means operators are less likely to invest as the return-on-investment just doesn\u2019t stack up. <\/p>\n
\u201cMaking a further 40MHz available is a logical and economically beneficial move that can be fast-tracked to deliver much-needed capacity for local wisp operators in the regions to provide the full noise-capacity that the technology offers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith added, it turned out prophetically: \u201cThere is a serious risk of operators closing up shop if spectrum that is sitting idle is not made available soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rural residential broadband market share.
Source \/ Commerce Commission Telecommunications Monitoring Report, June 2025. The regulator says the ‘Other’ category “consists mainly of “many smaller providers such as wisps [wireless internet service providers] that operate non-cellular wireless networks regionally.”<\/p>\n
Archer said earlier this week: \u201cTwo years into the current Government, the consolidation and resourcing cuts within MBIE and RSM [MBIE\u2019s Radio Spectrum Management unit] have slowed policy work and, in my view, pushed rural connectivity down the priority list\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be a real shame if the Government\u2019s plan for rural broadband simply relies on a global billionaire to solve the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
The industry veteran added, \u201cMany of us remember what happened when Microsoft \u2018bought the market\u2019 with cheap hosted email \u2013 smaller local providers were wiped out, and prices ultimately rose once local competition disappeared.”<\/p>\n
Starlink grows from 37,000 to 58,000 NZ users in a year<\/p>\n
The Commerce Commission\u2019s June report says in its rural connectivity section: \u201cThe fastest-growing provider is Starlink, which has overtaken 2degrees to become the third largest rural provider.\u201d<\/p>\n
Farmers are voting with their wallets. Starlink, which launched in NZ in 2021, has increased its connections over the past three years from 12,000 to 37,000 to 58,000, according to the regulator\u2019s report.<\/p>\n
Wisps have been able to grow as a category, too, thanks to the overall growth of various wireless solutions as rural users abandon copper (which Chorus is aiming to decommission altogether by 2030).<\/p>\n
The new Starlink connections are overwhelmingly rural, the commission says. <\/p>\n
Farmers out of reach of fibre or cut off by cellular data limits have turned to Musk\u2019s solution. Starlink has also been adopted by the Crown-owned Network For Learning as its connectivity solution for rural schools.<\/p>\n
The regulator did add that Starlink\u2019s growth \u201cnow appears to be slowing\u201d and that Musk\u2019s network faces pending competition from the Amazon-owned Kuiper network of low-earth orbiting satellites, which is still in its early days but due to launch its first service in Australia in \u201cmid-2026\u2033 with NZ expected to follow shortly afterwards. <\/p>\n