Since its launch in 2016, Spark’s subsidised prepaid broadband programme, Skinny Jump, has provided access to around 418 million gigabytes of data and now connects one in five New Zealand households without home internet, the telco said. According to Spark, 100,000 households have accessed Skinny Jump over the past decade, with nearly 35,000 currently connected through the programme, with the commercial value of subsidised broadband exceeding $9.1 million in its 2025 financial year. The number of households connected through Skinny Jump today is equivalent to around one in five of the 170,000 identified as being in need in the 2023 Census, with demand for subsidised internet connectivity growing, said Spark digital equity lead Martin La’a.