A man has been arrested and charged with arson after a spate of recent cell fire attacks in New Zealand.

New Zealand Police this week reported a man has been arrested and charged in Wānaka in relation to a series of cellphone tower arsons in the area in recent months.

The unnamed 41-year-old has also been charged in relation to the Lindis Pass cell tower arson in early July. He is due to appear in Queenstown District Court today facing charges of arson and firearms offences.

“The team has worked tirelessly investigating, and we are thankful that no one was hurt as a result of the actions of this individual,” said acting detective sergeant Julie Bowman.

“This is a good result for our community, and they should feel confident we will always work to hold those to account to carry out such mindless attacks.”

A cell tower in Wānaka hosting One NZ equipment was knocked offline earlier this month after a fire. A Connexa's cell tower was also damaged but remained online.

This followed two fires in September that knocked two cell towers offline, impacting cell coverage for both One NZ and Spark customers. Another tower, outside of town on State Highway 8 at Lindis Pass-Tarra Road, was damaged in July.

Wānaka is a ski and summer resort town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand, located at the southern end of Lake Wānaka.

DCD has covered the impact of attacks against telecoms infrastructure in Issue 58 of DCD>Magazine. Read more here.