The New Zealand town of Wānaka has suffered a second cell tower fire in three weeks.

Local press reports police are making enquiries after a cell phone tower fire on Upton Street near the Wānaka Cemetery. The incident took place around 11.30pm on Tuesday, October 7.

Local telco One NZ said the Wānaka site had been destroyed and it would be at least a month before the mobile site was rebuilt. The site will cost around NZ$100,000 to repair, which will take around a month.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand said a fire investigator was looking into the incident, which they were treating as suspicious.

One NZ spokesperson, Nicky Preston, told RNZ other sites were helping to provide mobile coverage, but it would be "degraded," causing congestion at peak times.

"This reckless behavior puts the safety of our communities at risk. With reduced mobile coverage in parts of the area, residents and visitors will experience disruptions to service. However, One NZ customers will still be able to make 111 calls thanks to industry-wide emergency protocols," she said.

"We're working urgently to restore full coverage as soon as possible, but with connectivity now being essential to live, work and play online, this will impact locals and visitors to Wānaka. We're asking the community to help us stop these acts of vandalism - if you see or know anything, please report it to police immediately."

Spark also confirmed an attempted arson attack on Connexa's cell tower in downtown Wānaka on Wednesday (October 8). It said there was limited damage and coverage had not been disrupted. A temporary cell tower was used while the other was being repaired, and service was fully restored.

"Spark and Connexa condemn attacks on cell towers, as they are critical infrastructure essential for the safety and connectivity of our communities,” the companies said.

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. The attacks are the latest in a series against cell towers in the area.

Fires knocked two towers in Wānaka offline in late September, impacting OneNZ and Spark customers. Police found that one cell tower and two data boxes had been set on fire. FortySouth, which owns all One NZ towers, confirmed its tower was no longer working. Spark said that a cabinet housing important electronics had been vandalized, causing its nearby cell site to go offline.

Another tower, outside of town on State Highway 8 at Lindis Pass-Tarra Road, was damaged in July.

Lakes District Mayor Glyn Lewers said the attacks showed "a complete disregard for community safety and infrastructure.”

“I am deeply concerned and disappointed by the recent acts of vandalism targeting mobile infrastructure in our community,” he said. “The deliberate destruction of a One NZ cell site in downtown Wānaka — the second such attack in as many weeks — is not only reckless, but it puts the safety and wellbeing of our residents and visitors at risk.

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