Warkworth Satellite Earth Station: 55 years and counting

The site that brought the world to New Zealand, still going strong

In 2026, the Warkworth Satellite Earth Station marks 55 years of operation. Kordia has maintained this nationally significant site since 2004, helping ensure its critical infrastructure continues to perform around the clock.

The site, now owned by Spark New Zealand, was originally designed primarily for telephone services but it was also significant in transforming television. Before Warkworth, international footage was flown into New Zealand. Viewers who had watched Neil Armstrong step onto the moon in 1969 waited for the film to be hand carried on a flight from Australia. Warkworth changed that. Not only could the country receive live broadcast content but the station allowed New Zealand to televise the 1974 Commonwealth Games to the world live.

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