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Fibre optic port - Source: ONE News / CNN -
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The big push to get high speed broadband into country areas is
officially on.
The government has just signed off on a project that will see
nearly every rural household with access. The work is costing
hundreds of millions of dollars and should be underway early next
year.
It is hard to find a classroom without a computer these days and in Oxford faster broadband means an end to slow internet use and therefore quicker learning.
Oxford Area School principal Bob Norrish says it is going to change how they teach.
"It's going to change how kids learn and it's going to fundamentally change in the future the way education is delivered in schools," he says.
It will mean 97% of all schools will have access to high speed broadband. The rural initiative is expected to cost $300 million and the contracts for the work will be issued by the end of 2010 to begin in 2011.
Rural communities will get the faster connection too and this is pleasing business owners.
"Just with our day to day business obviously we use the internet for all sorts of things, speeds fairly important," says Mike Rutherford, from Oxford Supervalue.
Communications and Information Technology Minister Steven Joyce says under the plan, 97% of rural households will get access to broadband services of at least 5Mbps, and the remainder will have speeds of at least 1Mbps.
"For many remote and not-so-remote rural areas this will be light years ahead of where they are today," he says.
"It is in effect a levy from the various participants in the industry to set up a fund to develop rural broadband services and a couple of other things that are listed, the 111 emergency call system, and any remote telecommunication obligation," Joyce says.
The rural broadband initiative is expected to cost about $300 million, and is being funded by a $48m direct government grant, plus $252m from a new Telecommunications Development Levy being set up as part of the accompanying TSO reforms.
It was not proposed that broadband be included in the TSO requirements, with policy being to allocate some subsidy funding from revenue collected by the new consolidated industry levy.
The rural broadband initiative will be developed separately, but alongside the ultra-fast broadband initiative in urban areas.
Together, the two initiatives will deliver to New Zealanders modern telecommunications equal or better than anywhere in the world, Joyce says.
But Federated Farmers say it is not enough and they would have liked to see $500 million invested.
"It's a lot of country to cover out there and we are sparsely populated so we do need to make sure we invest the right amount of money and I'm not sure we are there yet," says Conor English from Federated Farmers.
The government has also finalised plans involving reform of the Telecommunications Service Obligations (TSO), involving compensation to Telecom for supplying local telephone services in commercially non-viable areas. No increase in line rental charges were expected.
