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Fibre optic port - Source: ONE News / CNN -
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The government says $300 million needs to be spent getting rural New Zealanders connected with broadband.
Communications Minister Steven Joyce wants 25% of those living in rural areas to have access to broadband soon.
He says the $300 million will be a "mix of public and private funding", though he says no private partners have been approached yet.
The government is expected to announce how much it will spend next week.
Joyce says many rural households are coping with dial-up speeds which is "not good enough in the 21st century".
The plan aims to give more than 80% of rural households with broadband access of at least 5 megabytes per second (Mbps) and the remainder at speeds of at least 1Mbps within six years.
And 93% of schools will receive fibre, enabling speeds of at least 100Mbps and the remaining will have at least 10Mbps.
"Providing fibre to the vast majority of rural schools will effectively deliver the capacity to provide faster broadband to the communities they serve," Joyce says.
"Enabling rural cell phone towers to be connected to fibre will also improve mobile phone services in rural areas."
The government is working "with urgency" to deliver higher speeds in rural areas.
Internet NZ spokesman Jordan Carter says the announcement fills a "worrying gap".
"New Zealanders' reliance on dial-up has been an embarrassing component in international comparisons of internet access and had limited the economic and social development options."
However, Carter says further details on the initiative are needed.
Labour MP Clare Curran says questions remain over how the government will achieve its plan.
Curran is seeking clarity over how much of the $300 million will be funded by the government and whether it is on top of the existing $1.5 billion allocated to rollout broadband to 75% of the population.
"What proportion of the $300 million is public money? And where is the new money coming from?"
There are also serious concerns that the government is lining up Telecom to lead the rollout of rural broadband and possibly the rest of the country, entrenching its position as a monopoly.
Curran says that would be a "disaster" for New Zealand's communications industry.
The rural announcement follows the government's $1.5 billion ultra-fast broadband investment initiative announced earlier this year.
Using public-private partnerships the government wants to deliver ultra-fast broadband to 75% of New Zealanders within 10 years.
That 75% is based in the 25 biggest cities and towns.
