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Labor has pledged an additional $ 60 million to boost broadband infrastructure in rural areas, including the outskirts of Auckland and Wellington.
New Zealand’s variable rural internet quality meant that people weren’t just missing out on Netflix, said Craig Young, executive director of the Telecommunications Users Association (Tuanz).
“It can range from getting almost the equivalent of what you get in urban areas … to people who have to get up at 4 am just to do their taxes due to network restrictions, or people who really just don’t. they can get a connection and therefore cannot run their business, even the people who have to walk to the top of their hill to make a mobile phone call. “
The investment in rural connectivity, promised by both political parties, was welcome, Young said.
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Labor has teamed up with National to promise a new initiative to improve rural broadband coverage.
“I gave National seven out of 10, it’s the same for Labor,” Young said.
“We are pleased that the Labor Party has been listening to what we and other rural people have been saying: these are capacity problems in particular parts of the network that need to be fixed, that’s quite critical.”
On Saturday, Communications Minister Kris Faafoi said the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment would establish a fund to pay for backhaul and other capacity upgrades “in our worst-connected regions.”
Focus areas would include Gisborne, Manawatu-Wanganui, rural areas outside Auckland and Wellington, Otago, Hawke’s Bay, the west coast, Wairarapa and Southland, he said.
The National Party made a larger but long-term commitment to improving broadband infrastructure in September, as part of a broader technology policy.
Like Labor, one of its priorities is to improve broadband on the outskirts of Auckland, particularly north of the city.
National promised to expand the ultra-fast broadband network to cover 90 percent of households within 10 years if elected, bringing fiber broadband to another 50,000 households.
UFB’s current goal is to cover 87 percent of households by 2022.
Party leader Judith Collins also pledged to improve the goals of the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI), so that the remaining 10% of households could have unlimited broadband of 100 megabits per second using wireless technologies or copper by 2030.
SCOTT HAMMOND / THINGS
Communications Minister Kris Faafoi says there is no “one size fits all” approach.
He predicted that those investments would cost a billion dollars.
Labor’s announcement did not include a commitment to increase the size of the UFB footprint itself.
Although its announcement came after National and the Greens published their technology policies, it provided few details on how its $ 60 million fund would be allocated.
“This is about targeting regional areas where we need customized solutions to address the lack of connectivity,” Faafoi said.
“We know there is no longer a ‘one size fits all’ approach.”
In addition to the fund, Labor would spend $ 10 million to make adequate radio spectrum available to rural communities where broadband coverage and capacity are “under pressure,” Faafoi said.
Greens’ policies include improving internet access, making new devices available to low-income people, and enhancing digital skills training for workers and small businesses.
Co-Director James Shaw said the party’s tech plans would support business development and soften “social isolation and loneliness” after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Significant parts of New Zealand received investment in the first phase of the government’s Rural Broadband Initiative, but now there was no more capacity in some of those networks, Young said.
Tom Pullar-Strecker / Stuff
Tuanz CEO Craig Young gives Labor and National a 7/10 for their rural broadband policies.
Those areas, which he called “stale donut,” tended to be close to urban centers rather than remote, such as parts of Canterbury where new rural dwellers could not afford RBI1 service.
“The inside of the donut is UFB, that’s fiber; the outside is RBI2, which is being done now with 4G and wireless ISPs [internet service providers]; so you have this ring where we put 3G several years ago, but no more has been invested to keep it up to date. “
Both major political parties were focused on the short term, possibly due to the elections, but it was important to plan five to ten years in advance to improve rural connectivity to the point where it was equal to urban.
“I’m not saying it should be the same technology, it just needs to be of the same quality,” Young said.
New Zealand had done well compared to many other countries, but further improvements were needed.
“We know that coming out of Covid we continue to rely heavily on our rural businesses and farms for our future, so if we want our farms and farmers to embrace the latest technology, we have to provide them with the connectivity so they can.
“It is not just them, then it goes from them to their families, to their workers, then to marae, we have to find a path that takes everyone at the same speed.”
