It was operated by the Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research, Auckland University of Technology[1] until 3 July 2023.

It is now operated by SpaceOps NZ under licence from Spark.

The antenna was commissioned in 1984 by New Zealand Post Office for international telecommunications via a geostationary satellite.

The telescope is a 30-metre Cassegrain wheel-and-track beam waveguide antenna.

It was manufactured in 1983 by Nippon Electric Corp., and was first used by Telecom NZ for communication between New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.