Business General Terms

Last updated: 29 September 2023.

Our Business Terms apply to all SME customers who receive any products and services from us for business purposes. They also apply to any use of our products and services by your staff or anyone else you have authorised. If you want to use our products and services for residential or other non-business purposes, our Personal Terms will apply instead.

There are three major parts to our Business Terms.

The first part is our General Terms below. They apply regardless of the type of product or service we’re supplying to you and cover key things that all SME customers should know about.

The second part is our Technology Terms, which apply if you receive broadband, landline or mobile services from us. There are two types of Technology Terms:

  • Fixed Line Terms, which apply to fixed line services like copper or Fibre broadband or fixed line telephone services.
  • Mobile and Wireless Terms, which apply to mobile and wireless services, like mobile phone services and wireless broadband.

The third part is our Plan and Product Terms, which tell you exactly what to expect when it comes to the specific product or service you’ve chosen.

Some products and services will be covered by three sets of terms, some will be covered by less. We will do our best to make it clear on our website what terms apply to you.

When you sign up for, and use, Spark products and services, each of us agree to these General Terms, along with the Technology Terms and Plan and Product Terms that apply to the product or service you’ve chosen. We refer to all of these Terms as our Business Terms. If anyone in your business will be using our products and services, please ensure they have also read and understood the Business Terms.

When you see words in bold, these terms have specific meanings that are set out at the end of this document. And if you have any questions about our Business Terms, you can call us on 126 or contact your local Spark Business Hub.

1. Using our services.

When you use our services, there are some things we’ll commit to doing and some we can’t take responsibility for. 

  1. Our commitment: We’ll take reasonable skill and care to provide you with services in a reasonable timeframe, and we will take all reasonable efforts to ensure our services do everything we say they will. We’ll do this as best we can, but there are some things we can’t control, such as weather events or systems and technology we don’t own. This means we can’t guarantee that our services will be available everywhere, always suit your needs, work all the time, never break or that speeds will never vary.
  2. Problems with your service: If you let us know about a problem with our services, we'll do our best to fix it as soon as we can. We may need to arrange for a service technician to visit your premises if problems arise. If the technician finds there are no problems with our networks or equipment, you may need to pay a charge for the service technician to be sent out. Other charges may apply for investigating or fixing problems that don’t relate to our services, networks or equipment (including accidental or intentional loss or damage to equipment or changes to any networks, services or equipment not performed by us). We will try to let you know in advance about any such additional charges.      
  3. Your security: We can’t always control how you use our services and we can’t ensure they’ll always be virus-free, private and secure. We’ll work hard at our end, but you’ll also need to look after your privacy and security.    
  4. Your privacy: When you use Spark services, you often need to share some personal information with us. This can include your information and others' information. Our Privacy Policy tells you what information we collect and how we use, share and protect it, and it applies whenever you interact with us or use our products and services. If anyone is using our services on your behalf, please let them know about our Privacy Policy. Read our Privacy Policy here
  5. Monitoring: We have legal obligations to monitor what’s transmitted over our networks or published on our platforms, including our social media pages. We’ll also share information when we consider it necessary to satisfy a law, regulation, code, legal process or government agency request, and as otherwise set out in our Privacy Policy. We may also edit, remove or block some information, websites or content to protect our customers, our networks and our services, or when we otherwise reasonably consider that we should do so (including where we consider we have a legal obligation to do so).     
  6. Third parties and their equipment, products and services: We’re not responsible for any transactions between you and other parties, or for the products, services or information you receive from them. If you use equipment that we haven’t approved for use on our networks, we won’t be responsible if it doesn’t work, gets damaged or is found to be illegal. We also do not have to make it possible for you to use our products and services with third party equipment, platforms, products and services.
  7. Content and data disclaimer: We aren’t responsible for the content, information or other material you access when you use our products and services. This includes inaccurate, misleading or malicious content and data. It also includes faults, damages or losses that happen because you accessed the content or data. We’re also not responsible if the content or data you hold on your devices or send using our networks becomes damaged or lost. The content and information you transmit, send and receive using our products and services is your responsibility.
  8. Modems: Your choice of modem may impact your broadband experience, and different modems are designed to work with different types of broadband access technology (e.g., copper, Fibre or wireless broadband). If you purchase a modem from us, it may not be compatible with all types of broadband access technology and may not work with other broadband service providers.
    See www.spark.co.nz/help/internet/broadband-help
  9. Credit checks: You give us permission to run credit checks on you when we think,  acting reasonably, that it’s appropriate. If you don’t meet our standard credit check requirements, we may ask you to show us that you are able to pay our charges or pay a deposit, provide a guarantee or other security if we reasonably think you will not be able to pay our charges.
  10.  Credit reporting information: Credit reporting agencies may record some information about you in their databases and share this information with others who’d like to run a credit check on you. This information could include your past credit checks, repayment history and any times you’ve missed a payment to Spark.  We'll also keep this information for our records.
  11.  Contract terms: You can sign up for fixed term or open term contracts. If you choose fixed term, you agree to receive our services for the length of time specified. Transfer, disconnection or early termination fees may apply if a fixed term contract is ended early (see our schedule of disconnection and transfer fees for more details. Schedule of disconnection fees).
  12. If you choose open term, you agree to receive our services on a recurring monthly basis until one of us ends the relationship.  

2. Your responsibilities.

When you use our products and services, there are some things you commit to doing.  

 

  1. Use our services as intended: Our products and services are intended for your normal business use only. You must not sell, rent, resell, copy or otherwise misuse any of our products and services without our written consent and subject to any other terms and conditions that we may impose. 
  2. Keep your information safe: When we talk with you or authorised people in your business, we’ll rely on things like your account number, Spark password, login details, PIN, username or other kinds of identifiers to make sure it’s really you or someone who works for you that is allowed to discuss the products and services we’re providing to your business. You, and any of your staff or contractors, must take great care with this information and keep it confidential. If you believe someone has accessed your business account without your permission, obtained your business information, has endangered your security in some other way or you otherwise think you may have suffered a data breach, you need to tell us as soon as possible so we can do our best to help you. 
  3. Respect others: You must not use our products and services (including our social media pages) in a way that disrupts, annoys or interferes with any person. You must respect our staff, and not threaten, bully or harass our staff, or anyone else when using our products and services. You must also respect our and others’ intellectual property rights. We won't be liable where you breach third party rights using our networks or services. We will take appropriate steps if you breach this clause, including removing or blocking content.
  4. Respect our networks, products and services: We and our partners own all applicable rights and title in and to our networks, products and services. You must not do anything or introduce anything, like a virus, that could interfere with, damage or harm our network or services. You must ensure that nothing on your property or premises interferes either. Don’t connect anything, like a phone or modem, directly to our network unless it has a telepermit or Spark label on it (or we tell you otherwise). It’s up to you to make sure your wiring and equipment that is not ours don’t interfere with the products and services we provide to you. If you lose, steal or damage any part of our network or services, you might have to pay the repair or replacement costs. This will also apply to you if someone you’re responsible for or someone using your services causes loss or damage to our network or services.
  5. Be responsible for others’ use: It’s up to you to make sure everyone using or interacting with products and services we’re providing to you knows about your responsibilities in the Business Terms and meets them. If someone uses your account without your permission, it’s your responsibility, unless we’re the ones who caused it to happen, or you couldn’t foresee this unauthorised access happening.
  6. Help us to help you: You agree to do all things reasonably required for us to provide our products and services. This includes getting authorisations, licenses or consents needed for us to provide products and services to you, for example, like those needed to enter premises. You also agree to let us test the configuration of equipment from time to time. If our products or services to you end, you agree to let us retrieve anything provided to you as part of the affected products and services as soon as practicable.  
  7. Follow the law: You must make sure that you only use our products and services in accordance with the law.
  8. Follow our reasonable instructions: If we give you instructions for using our products and services, you must follow them.
  9. Provide correct information: You must make sure all the information you provide to us is correct, complete and up-to-date.
  10. Use our products and services fairly: You must use our products or services fairly. This means you agree to use them in a way that’s not overly excessive or unreasonable. This policy is based on how most people use the service and helps us make sure everyone using it gets to enjoy it. If we, acting reasonably and in good faith, believe your use is excessive and unreasonable, we might need to restrict the service or stop providing it to you.
  11. Our relationship: You will not state or imply that we have endorsed or sponsored you in any way, or that there is any connection or association between you and us, including any partnership, agency or other formal relationship, unless we’ve agreed to this. You will also not purport to bind us in any way to any legal obligation not contained within the Business Terms.
  12. Intellectual property: We and our partners own all intellectual property rights in the network and services made available to you. You don’t have any title, interest or intellectual property rights in them, or any part of them. Any intellectual property rights arising from any improvement or change to any services devised or made by anyone belongs to us. We grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use our intellectual property rights to the extent needed to use our services or the network. We reserve all rights not expressly granted under these General Terms.
  13. Pay our costs if you don’t meet your responsibilities: If you do not meet your responsibilities under the Business Terms, you must pay any reasonable expenses we incur in exercising our legal rights, including collecting any money owed.  Please talk to your insurer about arranging cover for risks of loss or liability. 

3. Billing and support.

This section tells you what to expect when it comes to your bills, how we’ll get in touch with you and how you can find support.

  1. Paying your bills: We’ll provide you with monthly bills by email or post or online. You’ll need to make sure you pay your bills by their due date, otherwise we may:

(a) charge you a late payment fee or interest on the unpaid amount from that date until you pay it. You can find out more about these fees: https://www.spark.co.nz/help/account/bill/account-fees/

(b) restrict or suspend the service or stop providing it to you. If your service is restricted, suspended or ended, we may charge you a reconnection fee. We explain this in 6.7 below; and

(c) pass your debt to a debt collection agency if we disconnect you. We or the debt collection agency may charge you what it costs to get help recovering the money you haven’t paid. For example, this cost may include legal fees.

  1. Paper invoices: We charge a fee for sending you paper invoices. You’ll find the fee and more information at https://www.spark.co.nz/help/account/bill/account-fees/
    We don’t charge a fee for online billing.
  2. Paying your bills by credit card: When you pay your bill using a credit card or charge card, you’ll also be charged a surcharge. When you top up a prepaid account, we won’t charge you this extra fee. Find out about ways to pay
  3. Questions about bills: If you think there’s something wrong with your bill, let us know before the payment due date.  We will look into it and you do not need to pay for the queried part of the bill by the due date (you’ll need to pay any undisputed part of the bill as normal). If we find a mistake in your bill, we’ll adjust your next bill or provide a refund if appropriate. Otherwise, you’ll need to pay your bill immediately or arrange another date with us.
  4. No set off, counterclaim or deduction: Subject to 3.4, you will pay each bill by the payment date (set out in that invoice) without set-off, counterclaim or deduction.
  5. Usage meter: We may provide usage meters to help you understand and track your usage of our services. We don’t guarantee that our usage meters will show real time usage, and (where applicable) we’ll bill you for actual usage.
  6. Days of the week: We only process payments Monday through Friday, excluding any public holidays. If you choose to make a payment on a weekend or a public holiday, it won’t be applied to your account until the next working day.
  7. How we’ll contact you: Sometimes, we’ll need to get in touch to give you billing information or to tell you important things about your service. We’ll do this by text, email, call or post using the contact details you’ve given us. If you’ve provided us with incorrect details, or if you haven’t updated us with your new ones, we won’t be responsible for you not receiving notices or billing information.  You accept that any agreements, notices, disclosures and other communications that we send to you electronically meet legal requirements for them to be in writing. 

    Interest free payment terms
  8. Eligibility: You may be able to buy certain devices from us on deferred payment, which is interest free.  To be eligible, you need to meet our business requirements and pass a credit assessment. We may require you to have a particular plan or service with us in order to buy certain devices on interest free. We may limit the number of interest free devices you can have under your account or attached to a particular plan or service to one device (plus one modem) per plan, or any other limit that we tell you about.
  9. Upfront payment: Depending on how much the device is worth, the length of your interest free term, and how your credit assessment goes, we may ask you to pay an amount upfront when you buy the device. 
  10. GST: Goods and service tax (GST) for the full cost of the device will be charged on your first bill, so the GST amount will seem like a lot. But after that, your monthly charges for the device won't include any GST. You might notice that the monthly charges are slightly different from month to month. That’s due to rounding and the total amount you’ll pay over the interest free term won’t be more than the cost of the device (including GST) when you signed up.
  11. Payments and term: Your interest free payments will appear on your monthly bill. You’ll need to pay off the device with payments each month over the specified interest free term (e.g., over 24 months).  You can’t make your interest free term longer or shorter while you're paying off the device. But you can choose to finish it early by paying off the full amount you owe in one payment.
  12. Discounts: Sometimes we offer discounts on interest free payments for certain devices when you’re on a certain plan. If you move off that plan or downgrade to a lower plan you will lose that discount from that point onwards. You also might lose this discount if you pay off your device early, decide to leave us, or if your services are disconnected.
  13. If you no longer have your device: If you sell your device (or it is lost, stolen or damaged) before it’s paid off, or in any other scenario we tell you about, you still need to complete your interest free payments.
  14. Ending early: If you leave your eligible plan with us or we stop providing you service (e.g., because you’ve stopped paying your bills) before your device is paid off, we’ll add the remaining amount to your final bill. If you don’t pay it, we may pass your debt to a debt collection agency and you could be charged for any collection costs.
  15. Sale or assignment of rights: We may sell or assign our rights to receive your interest free payments to another person at any time. This won’t change your interest free payment amounts, interest free term length or the way you pay. If this happens, we won’t contact you about it.

4. Changes to your services by you or us.

Sometimes, we may decide to change our products, services, technology, prices or our Business Terms.

And you may sometimes decide to change your services or technology. This section tells you how that works.

  1. Changes to our services, prices or Business Terms that are positive or neutral: When we reasonably think changes to our services, prices or Business Terms are going to be neutral or good for you, we’ll make them straight away and won’t necessarily tell you about them in advance.
  2. Changes to our services, prices or Business Terms that disadvantage you: Sometimes we will make a change to our services, prices or Business Terms that we reasonably think will disadvantage you. If that happens, and the change is within our control, we’ll give you 30 days’ notice of the change by post, email or text message (unless the changes are outside our control, in which case we’ll tell you about it as soon as we reasonably can). If you’re on a fixed term contract and we’ve made a change that disadvantages you, you can end your fixed term early and we won’t charge you an early termination fee or a notice period fee (unless the change was outside our control, for example price changes stipulated by law). If you think this might apply but you’re unsure, please ask us.
  3. Changing your plan: If you want to change your plan, e.g., downgrading it to a different plan, there might be specific terms that apply. For example, there might be a transfer fee if you’re on a fixed term contract. It’s a good idea to check the relevant Technology Terms and the Plan and Product Terms for your product or service to find out what’s involved before changing your plan.
  4. Changing technology – your choice: You may want to change the technology that your product or service runs on. For example, you might want to swap your fixed line service for a wireless service. To change technologies, you might need to change plans too, you might need new hardware (e.g., modem) and, if you’re on a fixed term contract, we may charge you a fee for changing. It’s a good idea to check your Plan and Product Terms or ask us if you’re unsure.
  5. Changing technology – our choice: Sometimes we might change your technology too. If that happens, we’ll try to make sure the change impacts you as little as possible. If you want to leave us because of this change, you’ll have to pay us an early termination fee if you’re on a fixed term contract, unless 4.2 applies.
  6. When we stop providing a service: There may be times when we decide to stop providing a service or plan to you. If this happens, the agreement you have with us will stay, and we may move you to another service or plan.  We’ll let you know about the change 30 days in advance by email, post, text message or by publishing the change on our website. We might also update the Business Terms on our website if we need to. Often this will be to your benefit (e.g., we might move you to a new plan that includes more data). If you want to leave us because of this change, you’ll have to pay us an early termination fee if you’re on a fixed term contract, unless 4.2 applies.

5. Liability.

This section talks about our liability to each other. 

  1. As you’re using our products or services for business purposes, you acknowledge the provisions of the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 (“CGA”) won’t apply to the products or services we provide to you. 

    Your liability to us

  2. If you breach the Business Terms, you’ll be liable to us for it, except to the extent that we caused the loss. For example, if you haven’t paid your bills, you’re liable to us for the money you owe.
  3. You agree to take reasonable steps to avoid or minimise any loss that you or we could suffer from providing services to you or otherwise under or in connection with the Business Terms.

    Our liability to you
  4. If we breach the Business Terms, we’ll be liable to you for it, except to the extent that you caused the loss or as provided at 5.5 below. This might mean we have to put it right, or sometimes, that we owe you money. We agree to take reasonable steps to avoid or minimise any loss we could suffer from providing services to you. We won’t be liable to you:

(a) if we need to suspend our services (e.g., for maintenance) or temporarily disconnect wiring or other equipment at your premises to restore or provide services to you;

(b) for any loss that is caused by an event that we don’t reasonably control, including a Force Majeure Event or, for example, a shortage of suitable labour or materials or a loss caused by any third party network provider;

(c) for any obligations we are unable to fulfil as a result of a Force Majeure Event; or

(d) for any indirect or consequential loss, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, business, goodwill or savings.

  1. Our partners, suppliers and related companies (e.g., a company we own) will have no liability to you for loss or damage in connection with the products and services, our equipment or otherwise under or in connection with the Business Terms.

    Limits on liability
  2. Except for express warranties set out in these Business Terms, we exclude all warranties relating to the Business Terms and our products and services to the maximum extent permitted by law.
  3. Our liability to each other (including anyone who uses the products or services we provide you) for breach of contract, negligence or any other circumstance arising out of or in connection with the Business Terms is limited to the lower of:

(a) the total cost of services purchased by you in the 12 months before the claim arises if you have used our services for 12 months of more; or

(b) the average cost you paid for services for the months you have been with us, multiplied by 12, if you have used our services for less than 12 months before making a claim.

  1. The maximum amounts payable in respect of 5.7 are $50,000 for any single event in a 12 month period and $100,000 in aggregate in any 12 month period.
  2. These limits are the maximum amounts payable (they’re not automatically payable if one of us does something wrong).
  3. The limits outlined in 5.8 don’t limit your responsibility to pay any outstanding charges you owe us under the Business Terms. They also don’t apply when it comes to any loss or damage caused by you or us for fraud, wilful breach or wilful damage, or threatened or actual claims by a third party resulting from infringing activities.
  4. Any claims relating to the Business Terms, product or services must be brought to the other party’s attention within three years of discovery.
  5. In this section, Spark, our and we means only Spark New Zealand Trading Limited. It doesn’t include any company related to Spark New Zealand Trading Limited (e.g., a company we own), network operator, third party supplier, or any of our respective officers, employees, contractors and agents, or other person. This means only Spark and none of our connected companies, partners or suppliers will be liable to you for loss or damage in connection with the services or our equipment.  

6. You or us ending your service

This section tells you when and how we can each end your service.  It also covers what will happen if we need to pause or restrict your service

         If you end your service

  1. If you’re on a fixed term contract and decide to cancel your service (including using the process referenced in 6.2 and 6.4 below), we may charge you an early termination fee. If you’re cancelling because of a change that disadvantages you (under 4.2 above), an early termination fee won’t apply.
  2. It’s up to you to let us know if you want to cancel your service with us. Once you’ve told us, you’ll have to pay us for the next 30 days. After that, our agreement will end and we’ll stop supplying your service. However, if you don’t want to stay with us for those 30 days, you can choose to have your service end straight away, but we may charge you a notice period fee. If you’re cancelling because of a change that disadvantages you (under 4.2 above), a notice period fee won’t apply.
  3. If you’re cancelling because of a change under 4.2 above, you’ll need to do this within a reasonable timeframe of being notified of the change (in order to not be charged an early termination fee or a notice period fee). We’ll tell you how long you have to make this decision. After that time period, these fees will apply again.
  4. If your service is capable of being transferred to another provider and you want to do so, you’ll need to ask your new provider to request the transfer on your behalf. We recommend doing this 30 days in advance to ensure continuous service and avoid duplicate billing. Your service may need to be active with us for your new provider to request the transfer and we'll stop billing for your current services at the end of your notice period, or on the date of the transfer if your notice period has already lapsed.

    If we restrict, suspend or end your service

  5. We may restrict, suspend, end or slow the performance of your service for the following reasons: 

(a) If you breach the Business Terms;

(b)  if our networks aren’t available, need to be reconfigured, are congested or we need to work on them;

(c) if we reasonably believe it’s necessary for operational or security reasons;

(d) if we reasonably believe it’s necessary for us to protect our networks or manage traffic over our networks, including where the usage of our services is excessive or where we need to prioritise certain types of traffic over other traffic at times of congestion;

(e) if we reasonably believe you or someone using your service is doing so in a way that risks us breaching our arrangements and agreements with others, or our legal obligations;

(f) if there’s a risk someone could be harmed;

(g) in other circumstances we’ve mentioned in the Business Terms;

(h) if you harass, abuse or threaten our staff, contractors, customers or members of the public in connection with, or while you are using, our services;

(i) if you become insolvent;

(j) if any Force Majeure Event occurs; or

(k) in any other circumstances where it would be reasonable to do so.

  1. Sometimes we may need to do this straight away, especially if we need to do so to improve the experience and services for our customers.
  2. If you don’t meet your responsibilities and we temporarily disconnect you (sometimes called a suspension), we may charge you a reconnection fee. If we permanently disconnect your service, you’ll still need to pay for any usage and other charges incurred up until the day we disconnected you. In some cases, if you have breached the Business Terms or otherwise not met your responsibility (e.g., you did not pay your bill by the due date) normal charges continue to apply during the suspension or restriction of any service.

7. Resolving disagreements.

This section tells you what can happen if you have a dispute with us.  

  1. Come to us first: If you have a concern or complaint to make about us, please get in touch with us first so we can do our best to try and resolve things for you. Read about our complaints process
  2. Telecommunications Dispute Resolution: If you have a dispute with us, and we can’t agree on how to resolve it, you may be able to go to an independent body called the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution (TDR) if you meet TDR's eligibility criteria. Before approaching the TDR, you need to have first made a complaint to us using the process at 7.1 above. Read about the TDR

8. Other important things. 

This section has a few more important things you need to know, like when our Business Terms apply and which terms take priority over other terms.

  1. When our terms apply: The Business Terms apply to all new and existing SME customers using Spark’s products and services for business purposes. They also apply to any use of our products and services by your staff or anyone else you have authorised. If you want to use our products and services for residential or other non-business purposes, our Personal Terms will apply. For the avoidance of doubt, these Business Terms will apply even if you’re on a consumer plan, provided you’re using it for business use. Changes to any part of the Business Terms will apply from the “Last Updated” date specified at the top of the relevant document, subject to 4 above.
  2. Additional terms and their priority: Our General Terms, Technology Terms and Plan and Product Terms might all apply to you.  To the extent of any inconsistencies between them they will apply to you in the following order of priority: Our Plan and Product Terms will take first priority, our Technology Terms will take second priority and our General Terms will take third priority.
  3. Multiple individuals or entities: Every person named as a customer in any account with us must meet all the customer's responsibilities under that account.
  4. Confidentiality: Any information that we give to you that should reasonably be considered confidential or commercially sensitive (including passwords, pricing, network or equipment design information) needs to be kept confidential by you unless you are required to disclose it by law or a stock exchange requirement.
  5. Governing law and jurisdiction: Our terms are governed by New Zealand law. New Zealand courts will have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising under the Business Terms.   
  6. Transferring our part in these terms: We may transfer some or all of our rights or responsibilities under the Business Terms to someone else, and we don’t need your prior approval before we do so.  Before we do this, we’ll aim to tell you at least 30 days in advance – unless it is a transfer of our right to receive interest free payments, we are restricted from telling you by any confidentiality obligations or we consider that there are good reasons not to.
  7. Transferring your part in these terms: You can’t transfer your responsibilities under the Business Terms to anyone else unless we agree to it. 
  8. Severability: Each term of the Business Terms is separately binding.  If for any reason a term is unlawful and unenforceable, it will be severed from these terms to the extent that it is unlawful and unenforceable.  All other terms will still be binding.
  9. Waiver: If either of us fail or are slow to enforce any rights or power we have under the Business Terms, it won’t mean we’re waiving those rights or power. And if either of us do decide to waive any breach of the Business Terms, it won’t mean we’re waiving any other or subsequent breaches. 
  10. Survivability: If our agreement ends, any rights and responsibilities that are intended to continue, or begin after our relationship ends, are unaffected. 

9. Definitions.

Here’s what the words in bold mean. 

Business Terms are all the agreements that apply to you, including these General Terms, your Technology Terms (if any) and your Plan and Product Terms (if any).

Early termination fee is the fee we may charge if you’re on a fixed term contract and you cancel your service or your service is ended part way through your term.

Fixed line means any fixed line services we provide or arrange for you. This includes copper broadband, Fibre broadband and fixed line telephone services.

Fixed term contract means the contract you have when you agree to purchase services for a minimum length of time, such as 12 or 24 months.

Force Majeure Event means any event or circumstances beyond our reasonable control, including any act of God, fire, flood, storm, earthquake or any natural disaster, any act of a public enemy, terrorism, sabotage, embargo, malicious damage, riot or war, any Government intervention and any defect in or failure of any third party network or infrastructure, but does not include lack of funds for any reason.

General Terms are the terms you’re reading right now. These apply to everyone receiving our services for business use and they cover key things everyone should know about.
 
Interest free payments are what you pay each month for the cost of your device when you buy a device on an interest free term.
 
Interest free term means a term over which you’ll pay off an eligible product in equal payments, without being charged interest.
 
Late payment fee means the fee we automatically charge if you don’t pay your bill by its due date. Find out about late payment fees

Networks and our networks refers to the communications infrastructure owned by us and others we work with, like Chorus. This infrastructure is used to provide you with services and includes our fixed line network and our wireless network.

Notice period fee means a fee we may charge if you want to end your service straight away (or before your 30 days’ notice is up). This fee is for the price of the service for another 30 days and is calculated as a daily rate, based on the month in which service is disconnected. This will be applied for 30 days or the remainder balance of the 30 day notice period.

Plan and Product Terms are the particular terms and conditions relating to our products and services.  

Products means any goods that we provide including any hardware, software or equipment we provide to you, including as part of the services.

Reconnection fee means the fee we may charge you to reconnect your services after we’ve disconnected you. Find out about Reconnection Fees

Services means any service we provide and includes any goods (including software) or equipment we provide to you as part of the services.

SME customer means any customer of ours who is a SME (small and medium enterprise) customer, who has not signed a separate written agreement with us or as otherwise designated by us from time to time.
 
Software means all system software, application software, software tools and software utilities which are provided to you.

Spark, our, we or us aren’t bold throughout this document, but when you see them they refer to Spark New Zealand Trading Limited or any related company or approved agents of Spark New Zealand Trading Limited (unless provided otherwise).

Technology Terms are the Fixed Line Terms and the Mobile and Wireless Terms. If your service runs over fixed lines like copper or Fibre, the Fixed Line Terms will apply to you. If your service uses our mobile network, the Mobile and Wireless Terms will apply to you.   

Transfer fee means the fee we may charge if you’ve agreed to a fixed term contract and you decide to change your plan to a lower tier plan. Read about these fees

Wireless means any mobile telecommunications services we provide or arrange for you. This includes mobile, wireless broadband and wireless landline services.

You or your aren’t bold throughout this document, but when you see them they refer to anyone who receives our services or has set up an account with us. This includes you, your officers, your employees, contractors, agents or any other of your representatives or persons you allow to access our services.