At Spark, we believe digital technology can create huge opportunities for all New Zealanders. We’re also aware of the responsibility that comes with being a digital services provider in today’s world. As more things that matter to you move online, we want to be a partner you can have confidence in and trust to do what’s right.
Last updated: 22 October 2020. We've recently made some changes to this Privacy Policy. For a summary of these changes, visit our Privacy Policy changes page. Go to Privacy Policy changes
This Privacy Policy sets out how Spark collects, uses, protects and shares your personal information. We hope you find it honest, transparent and easy to understand.
Where this Policy says Spark, “we” or “us”, it means Spark New Zealand Trading Limited, Spark New Zealand Limited and our related group of companies.
Personal information is any information that can be used to identify you. For example, your name, address, phone number and email address are all personal information. Personal information can also include information about you, for example, what phone numbers you call.
Spark collects, uses and shares your personal information in ways that follow legal requirements. This includes the Privacy Act 2020 and the Telecommunications Information Privacy Code 2003.
The Privacy Policy applies whenever you interact with us or use our products and services. This includes our mobile, broadband and landline services, and our digital platforms (such as our websites and apps). The Privacy Policy doesn’t apply when you interact with or use services provided by:
When you use services provided by our business partners, like Netflix or Spotify, their privacy policies will apply to your use of their services.
Our Web Privacy Policy applies to anyone visiting our Spark website. Go to Web Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy forms part of the terms and conditions applicable to all Spark products and services that you agree to when you sign up.
Even if you aren’t a Spark customer, this Policy applies to any personal information you provide to us or that we collect when you interact with us or use our products and services. For example, if you:
We have broken down the information we collect into the following four key categories:
This is personal information we receive from you (for example when you sign up for a Spark product or service), that third parties give to us or that we create about you.
To provide you with Spark products and services, interact with you and conduct our business, we need to collect some information directly from you and sometimes from publicly available data sources and third parties. If we ask you for information and you decide not to supply it, we may not be able to provide some products and services to you.
We collect information directly from you when you:
The personal information we collect may include:
We may collect information about you from other divisions of Spark New Zealand Trading Limited and companies within the Spark group.
We may sometimes collect or purchase personal information about you from publicly available sources like real estate listings or from other people, like loyalty programme partners, credit reference agencies or information aggregators. We only do this if we reasonably believe you’ve authorised us to do so, or if you’ve authorised the third party to share your information with us.
If you’re moving services to Spark, we may collect personal information from your current provider. For example, we may confirm your account number with them. This helps us transition you smoothly.
We may also collect your personal information if we’re investigating alleged fraud. This can include information from the person who says they’ve been defrauded, verification of your passport from the Department of Internal Affairs and confirmation of order delivery status and address from courier companies for deliveries of Spark products.
We may also collect or purchase data and combine it with other information that we hold about you to help us better understand your needs and the needs of your household and those of potential customers. For example, we may:
We will only collect this kind of data from trusted providers if we’re satisfied they have permission to share this information with us and the collection, use and disclosure meets the requirements of the Privacy Act.
We also create and hold information to manage your Spark account, including:
If you give someone else the authority to manage your account, we’ll collect their name and contact information from you. Please make sure you have this person’s agreement before you share their information with us.
We use CCTV in Spark stores to detect and prevent theft, criminal activity and fraud.
To help improve our products, services and your customer experience, we may ask you to take part in market research. When we ask this, we take the information you share with us and combine it with responses from other people. While we may use some of the information about you and your account e.g. what plans you have with us, alongside your survey answers to help us with our analysis, we don’t hold a copy of your responses with your account information.
This is personal information relating to the use of mobile, broadband or landline connections, or products, which we collect automatically when you use Spark products or services. It does not include data that we collect when you use our digital platforms, which is Online Experience Data, as described below.
When you use Spark products and services, we receive information about how our network, systems and platforms are working. This includes personal information about the way you use our products and services, including:
This is the technical information about your device, and how it interacts with our networks, products and services. This could include information like performance related settings and the networks to which your device connects.
This is information such as how much data you’ve used or how many calling minutes or texts you’ve used. It can include what you’ve used the service for, such as whether you’ve streamed music or browsed the web.
This is information such as the phone numbers you’ve called and sent texts to, or phone numbers you’ve received calls and texts from. Please see the section on Your content for how we deal with the content of your texts and phone calls. Go to Your content
This is created when:
This is the IP address, unique identification numbers, online identifiers (including device IDs), browser information and other similar or alternative identifying information of the devices used to access Spark’s network services and the dates and times you were using our network services.
This is personal information we collect automatically about your Spark digital experience when you visit, download, or use Spark websites, apps and other digital platforms to interact or engage with us. We set out examples of Spark online experience data below. Please note that if you use our apps, you can choose to use the app without logging in. When you use the app without logging in, we may still collect some Spark online experience data and information about your device, but it will not identify you.
This may include details of the device you use and its attributes, like your provider, device ID and your device’s technical and performance-related settings (including your language preferences).
Like many companies, when you visit or use our websites, apps or our other digital platforms or receive email communications from us, we collect and store information about your experience. We do this using several kinds of technologies or software for this, for example:
A cookie is a small packet of information that our digital platforms send to your web browser, app or device. It lets our digital platforms recognise you when you visit or interact with us and keep track of your preferences. A web beacon is a small image file embedded onto a webpage or email that tracks what you do on that webpage or how you interact with the email.
We use cookies and web beacons to collect and store information about your visit to, or use of, Spark digital platforms, including:
If you enable cookies in your web browser or otherwise elect to be remembered by one of our digital platforms, you don’t have to re-enter your username every time you visit or use our websites or apps. We use cookies and other similar technologies that store your login details locally on your device so that information isn’t passed to us. Please note, cookies and other technologies will only work like this if they’re enabled. This is usually the default setting. You can turn cookies off. Plus, other digital platforms will usually include an option not to be remembered.
Read more about how to turn cookies off using Google Chrome
Read more about how to turn cookies off using Microsoft Internet Explorer
Read more about how to turn cookies off using Mozilla Firefox
Read more about how to turn advertising identifiers off on your Apple device
Read more about how to turn advertising identifiers off on your Android device
Location data, like your GPS location, is created or collected when you give us permission to access your location when you use Spark digital platforms. For example, we may ask your permission to access your location data when you want to use one of our location-based services, such as when:
You can control your location data permissions through your device and app settings. Your options are to:
You can sign into MySpark online and our apps using third party login providers such as Facebook , Apple or Google. When you do this, we collect authentication information from the third party login providers such as your email address, profile photo (if you have one) and a login token. Spark does not store any passwords from third party login providers.
We may also receive additional information from Facebook, Google and other login providers, including your age, gender, assumed interests and browser language. We’ll only receive that information, if you’ve given consent in your Google, Facebook or other login provider privacy settings.
This is personal information created by you when you use Spark products and services. For example, photos you take and text messages you write.
When you use Spark products and services, you may create, share or send personal content. This could be things like phone calls, text messages, emails, photos and videos.
We treat this data with great sensitivity as we know how important that information is to you. We only use this data to deliver your content to the people or places you tell us to send it to. For example, we carry your calls over our network and deliver your emails. The only exceptions are:
When you use some Spark services, information about websites you’ve visited and apps you’ve used is automatically generated. We may use this information in an anonymised, aggregated format, for example, to help us manage the Spark network.
We may use and share your personal information with others, including:
We’ll use and share your information with these various groups for the purposes listed below. As we don’t use and share every type of information we collect for every purpose, we’ve noted the kind of information we use for each purpose.
We may use your supplied data, usage data and Spark online experience data to consider you as both an individual and as a member of a household. This helps us provide you with services and offers that we think are most relevant to your needs. For example, offers that save you money based on the size of your household. To do this, we might form a view of your household based on data such as address information provided by you or others, your interactions with Spark and others, and location data from your devices, apps or from others.
If you are not comfortable having your information used in this way, you can opt out. You can do this by clicking the link below.
Opt out of having information about you used to form a view of your household
We use and may share your supplied data, usage data and Spark online experience data to provide you with products and services, including to:
We may use your supplied data, usage data and Spark online experience data to improve our customer service, products and services, including to:
We may use your supplied data, usage data and Spark online experience data to:
We may also need to share your personal information with other telecommunications service providers to monitor or investigate fraud or other offences.
With your agreement, we may make your name, address and Spark telephone number(s) available to providers of directory assistance and listing services, like the Yellow and White Pages. These providers may make this information publicly available in online directories, through a published phone book or through directory assistance services.
You can choose a directory listing status for your landline or mobile number that suits your preferred level of privacy (for example you can choose not to have a directory listing). Find out more about your options on our website. You can check and update your directory listing in MySpark. If you don’t have a MySpark ID, you can register up for one then come back to this page and click the link below to opt out. Or, if you don’t have internet access or need help, you can check and update your directory listings by getting in touch with us.
Read more about how to manage your directory listing status
Check and update (via MySpark) your directory listing status
Check and update (via Live Chat) your directory listing status
We may use your supplied data, Spark online experience data and usage data to let you know about:
Our promotional messages may not always include an unsubscribe facility. But you can opt-out of all promotional messages by getting in touch with us. Or you can opt out of promotional emails only by updating your settings in MySpark online, or your communication and notification preferences in our apps. If you don’t have a MySpark ID, you can register up for one then come back to this page and click the link below to opt out. You can also click ‘unsubscribe’ on marketing emails or reply STOP in response to a marketing text message.
Read more about how to manage your communications from Spark
Opt out (via Live Chat) of all promotional messages
We may use your supplied data, Spark online experience data and usage data to:
We may use your supplied data, Spark online experience data and usage data to:
We sometimes run advertising campaigns where we share your email address and mobile number with Google and Facebook to help us show you relevant content, offers and ads when you visit other websites. This also helps us avoid showing you information about Spark products and services you’ve already signed up for.
Facebook and Google may provide us with aggregated, anonymised information about people who responded to the advertising campaign. This can include age brackets, gender, assumed interests and affinities for each campaign response type. This information won’t identify you. For example, Google or Facebook may tell us that most people who clicked on the ad were aged 30-40 and like news sites. Google and Facebook collect this information based on your browser language and online behaviour. Google and Facebook only provide this information about people whose privacy settings allow it. You can change your permissions in your Facebook and Google settings.
We use this aggregated, anonymised information to:
The information we share with Google and Facebook is provided to them so they can deliver these services to Spark. Spark is not selling this data to Google or Facebook, nor allowing them to use it for any other purpose. Please note, Spark doesn’t use Facebook “Event Data” services.
Read more about how Google provides these services
Read more about how Facebook provides these services
You can opt out of us sharing information about you with Google and Facebook for these purposes. You can do this by clicking the link below, then enter your MySpark ID. If you don’t have a MySpark ID, you can register up for one then come back to this page and click the link below to opt out.
Opt out (via MySpark) of Spark sharing your information with Google and Facebook
Note: If you only have a landline with Spark, and no other services, then you’ll already be opted out from this initiative.
We may use your supplied data and Spark online experience to:
Credit reference agencies may keep records of the information we give them. They may also use and share it with other organisations for credit checking and fraud prevention purposes.
If you use 0900 services or have unpaid bills, we may use your supplied data to:
We may use your supplied data and Spark online experience data to:
We may also share supplied data and online experience data with credit reference agencies. This helps us and the agencies build relevant models, and can help the agencies build models to help Spark and other organisations make credit and fraud protection and detection decisions.
We may share your supplied data, Spark online experience data, usage data and your content to enable law enforcement, government and emergency services agencies to do their work as follows:/span>
We may use and disclose your supplied data, usage data and your content to comply with our legal obligations, including:
We may use your supplied data to manage your status as a Vulnerable End User of Spark services (if applicable). This is to ensure you’re not placed at undue risk when we connect, disconnect, maintain and repair any faults with your Spark service. To do this, we may need to share your personal information with other service providers to identify your service connection. If necessary in your situation, we may also share any medical details relevant to your connection, such as the presence of a medical device.
Anonymised, aggregated data is a set of data about many people. It excludes personal identifiers, such as name, address and phone number. This protects your privacy. We may use anonymised, aggregated data for purposes such as internal and external reporting, and to make decisions about how to manage Spark and deliver product and services, for example:
We may also use anonymised, aggregated data to provide insights to other organisations – such as our advertisers, customers and partners.
Mobile and wireless location data
For example, as you use our mobile and wireless services, we collect information about how you’re using our networks. This includes your mobile and wireless location data generated from use of our mobile and wireless networks and our Spark public WiFi network hotspots. In addition to the uses set out in this Privacy Policy, we may also use anonymised, aggregated mobile and wireless location data sets to improve our network such as to plan where to increase our mobile network capacity and enhance our customer experiences. We may also share insights gained from analysis of this data to help other organisations better understand, plan for and meet the needs of their customers and the public.
Qrious
We provide anonymised, aggregated mobile location data to Qrious, a Spark-owned data and analytics organisation. Qrious analyses this and other non-Spark data (e.g. aggregated demographic data) for insights that can help organisations improve infrastructure and services. For example, making decisions about health, transport and infrastructure investment. You can opt out from having your information included in the data set provided to Qrious.
Opt out of having your anonymised mobile location data excluded by emailing: privacy@spark.co.nz
In additions to the reasons set out above, we may share your personal information with third parties
We store most of your personal information on our own servers here in New Zealand. From time to time we may need to store personal information in the cloud (online). This may involve storage in data centres outside New Zealand. We take care to carefully select data centre and storage service providers whom we trust with your information.
We apply strict security measures and follow industry standards to keep your personal information secure. To help with this, we ask that you:
We may assume that any verbal or online request or instruction we receive is authorised by you, if it’s accompanied by suitable verification (like your Spark account number, personal identification number or password).
We work hard and follow industry best practice to ensure the information we hold is secure.
If we become aware of a data breach that we think could compromise your security, we’ll tell you as soon as we can. We may also report the breach publicly, if we consider it appropriate to do so or if we’re required to by law.
Generally, we only keep your personal information for as long as it’s needed. That means once we’ve carried out the purpose for which we first collected it; we get rid of it. We do this by deleting it or by making it anonymous.
More specifically:
If you’re a Spark customer, we may continue to hold, use and share your supplied data after our agreement with you ends, and you stop being a Spark customer. We do this so that that we can discuss matters relating to your former account, and so it’s easy to re-connect your account, if you wish to join us again in the future. We may also use this information to contact you with offers; and to help improve our credit, fraud management controls and decision-making/credit scoring models.
You can request access to, and correction of, the personal information we hold about you. To do so, you may either:
Before processing your request, we‘ll contact you to verify your identity, confirm your request and advise of any charges that may apply. Occasionally, we may withhold information on one of the grounds set out in the Privacy Act 2020 or the Telecommunications Information Privacy Code 2003.
We have robust processes to manage the personal information that we hold about you. If you have any concerns or feel your privacy has been compromised in any way, please let us know.
The Spark Privacy Complaints Process will ensure your concerns are addressed as quickly as possible. View the Spark Privacy Complaints Process
To request further investigation, you can contact the Privacy Commissioner at any point during or after having lodged a complaint with us. Go to the Privacy Commission’s website
If you have general feedback or questions about this policy, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. Email privacy@spark.co.nz
If anything in this policy needs clarifying, or if you have questions about your privacy, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Email: privacy@spark.co.nz
Throughout this Policy, there are areas where you can make choices about your privacy. Here’s a recap on what they are:
If you enable cookies and similar technologies on your device, you don’t have to re-enter your username every time you visit our websites or apps. Remember, we use cookies and other technologies that store your details locally on your device. This ensures that information isn’t passed on to us. It’s usually the default setting for cookies to be enabled, but you can choose to turn them off and other digital platforms will usually include an option not to be remembered.
Read more about how to turn cookies off using Google Chrome
Read more about how to how to turn cookies off using Microsoft Internet Explorer
Read more about how to turn cookies off using Mozilla Firefox
Mobile advertising identifiers can also be managed on your device.
Read more about how to turn mobile advertising identifiers off on your Apple device
Read more about how to turn mobile advertising identifiers off on your Android device
If you choose to upload a photo or image to any Spark site (for example a profile picture) when you use the Spark app, Spark will receive access to your camera and/or photo library. Whilst Spark will only store photos or images you choose to provide us, to remove Spark’s permissions to access your camera or photo library, you may need to change the preferences on your device when you use the Spark app.
You can control your location data permissions through the settings on your device and app settings. Your options are to:
You can choose whether you’d like to be kept up to date with the latest offers and promotions from Spark.
You can opt out of all promotional messages by getting in touch with us. Or you can opt out of promotional emails only by updating your settings in MySpark online or on your communications and notifications preferences via Spark digital platforms, such as our apps. If you don’t have a MySpark ID, you can register up for one then come back to this page and click the link below to opt out. You can also click ‘unsubscribe’ on marketing emails or reply STOP in response to a marketing text message.
Read more about how to manage your communications from Spark
Opt out (via Live Chat) of all promotional messages
Opt out (via MySpark) of promotional emails
If you decide to share your location with us and have opted-in to receive information and communications from us, we may use your location data to provide you with information about, or relating to, our in-store and Spark Arena events or other special promotions near you. You can control your location data permissions through your device and app settings. See ‘Online location data’ above for your control options.
You can choose a directory listing status for your landline or mobile number that suits your preferred level of privacy (for example you can choose not to have a directory listing). Find out more about your options on our website. You can check and update your directory listing in MySpark. If you don’t have a MySpark ID, you can register up for one then come back to this page and click the link below to opt out. Or, if you don’t have internet access or need help, you can check and update your directory listings by getting in touch with us.
Read more about how to manage your directory listing status
Check and update (via MySpark) your directory listing status
Check and update (via Live Chat) your directory listing status
Spark shares anonymised, aggregated mobile location data with Spark-owned company Qrious. These are large sets of data that Qrious use to provide insights to other organisations. For example, there are often 6000 people in region ‘A’ at 1pm on Saturdays. These insights help organisations improve infrastructure and services. You can choose to have your anonymised mobile location data excluded from these large data sets by emailing us.
Opt out of having your anonymised mobile location data included by emailing: privacy@spark.co.nz
We may sometimes share your email address and/or mobile number with Google and Facebook. This is to help us personalise your experience of Spark on those platforms, other websites and digital platforms with relevant content, offers and ads from Spark.
You can opt out of us sharing information about you with Google and Facebook for these purposes. If you opt out, you may still see ads and other information from us, although it won’t always be as relevant to you. You can opt out by clicking the MySpark link below then entering your MySpark ID. If you don’t have a MySpark ID, you can register up for one then come back to this page and click the link below to opt out.
Opt out (via MySpark) of sharing your information with Google and Facebook
We may use your supplied data, usage data and Spark online experience data to consider you as both an individual and as a member of a household. This helps us provide you with services and offers that we think are most relevant to your needs. For example, offers that save you money based on the size of your household. To do this, we might form a view of your household based on data such as address information provided by you or others, your interactions with Spark and others, and location data from your devices, apps or from others.
If you are not comfortable having your information used in this way, you can opt out. You can do this by clicking link below.
Opt out of having information about you used to form a view of your household
We may need to update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law and our practices.
We will provide you with two weeks’ notice of any changes on our website. If the changes are significant, we may also advise you directly. We encourage you to check this site regularly.