MEDIA RELEASE
20 January 2009
For immediate release

Rural Women New Zealand calls for changes to $300M rural broadband spend up

Rural Women New Zealand is calling on the Government to re-think its $300 million Rural Broadband Initiative, in a white paper released today.

“The current proposal is unfair as around half of rural households will have access to ultra-fast broadband, while the other half will remain stranded on dial-up internet, or have to pay for expensive wireless or satellite connections,” says RWNZ telecommunications spokesperson, Jacky Stafford.

Rural Women New Zealand says the $300 million rural broadband funding is a precious resource and must be spent wisely.

“The Government must avoid costly duplication of the existing copper network that can deliver acceptable broadband at a much lower cost than the planned fibre-based alternatives,” says Ms Stafford.

In line with overseas approaches, Rural Women New Zealand’s white paper recommends the Government’s first priority must be 100 percent basic broadband coverage for rural at city prices, before spending money on delivering ultra-fast broadband to rural schools and those fortunate households which happen to share the same phone cabinets.

“We shouldn’t be gold-plating existing broadband services for some, while leaving the rest stranded. Equal access for all rural households and farms should be the primary goal.”

Rural Women New Zealand says approximately 100,000 rural households missed out when some rural phone cabinets had broadband installed as part of the schools-based Project PROBE in 2003/04, and the situation is unlikely to improve under the new Rural Broadband Initiative.

For this ‘stranded half’, satellite and wireless broadband have been the main alternatives, but price has proven to be a real barrier, resulting in only 13 percent broadband uptake.

“This is third-world standard, and not acceptable in our internet-based society,” says Ms Stafford.

This compares with 52 percent broadband uptake for the ‘fortunate half’ of rural households which are connected to broadband-enabled phone cabinets, giving them access to city-priced deals.

Rural Women New Zealand is also recommending subsidising satellite and wireless companies so they can offer city-priced broadband for the last 10-15% of rural households for whom these are the only long-term solutions, along the lines of the Australian Broadband Guarantee scheme.

Rural Women New Zealand says there has been no significant consultation with the stranded 100,000 households, and little sign of any detailed analysis of overseas approaches to the problem.

“Without a universal service focus a large proportion of rural households will continue to struggle without affordable broadband access and will be a political thorn-in-the-side indefinitely. We urge the Government to take another look at this important issue,” says Ms Stafford.

Ends

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