Five rural communities now have high-speed internet which could rival that of urban areas.
The first wave of new cell towers has been built as part of the Government's rural broadband initiative which aims to bring high-speed broadband to 95% of rural schools and 86% of rural households within six years.
Telecom and Vodafone have a joint contract to build 150 cell towers and upgrade nearly 400 others to provide wireless broadband for rural customers.
The programme will also improve mobile coverage in those areas.
The first five communities to get the upgrade are in Waikato, West Auckland and the Tasman District.
Thirty more communities will have high-speed internet by June 2012, which is the end of the first year of the six-year roll-out.
