After several years of review, Spark has announced its decision to decommission the paging network at the end of March 2017.

Spark said nowadays paging is being retired around the world as businesses move to alternatives like mobiles and smartphones.

It also said that in the past two years paging in New Zealand has dropped by 65 percent.

Spark Chief operating officer David Havercroft said they plan to work with all customers - including government, health and emergency services over the next 20 months to identify their needs and transition them to a new digital solution.

The paging network was introduced in 1988.