The spy domes at Waihopai, near Blenheim, will be decommissioned and dismantled.
The first of the two 18-metre diameter dishes and protective domes is expected to be removed next year after 30 years of service.
The minister responsible for the security agencies, Andrew Little says the nature of telecommunications has changed.
He told Morning Report the dishes are no longer needed, as they gathered less and less intelligence.
"The amount of intelligence, usable intelligence, that has been gathered from them is pretty minimal now. It's less than 1 percent of the intelligence that the GCSB collects. There's other ways of collecting the intelligence that they're looking for, and that's what we'll concentrate on."
The station near Blenheim will remain an operational facility.
It will leave the landscape missing a major landmark though. Little said he kept an eye out for them whenever he went past.
"They've become a feature of that landscape down there."
