InternetNZ says time to now look forward

InternetNZ says time to now look forward

InternetNZ (Internet New Zealand Inc) today congratulates the Minister Steven Joyce, Telecom CEO Paul Reynolds and Enable CEO Steve Fuller, for concluding successful contracts for the rollout of the Ultra-fast Broadband Initiative to the remaining coverage areas. This is a game changer for New Zealand.

“Negotiating a Public Private partnership is always difficult. We recognise and thank Crown Fibre Holdings and the successful bidders for their hard work. In particular, the risk sharing arrangements and initial wholesale prices augur well for the success of the initiative,” says InternetNZ Chief Executive Vikram Kumar.

“Ending the bandwidth constraints faced by New Zealanders (for those within the coverage of UFB) by replacing the old-fashioned copper network is a massive leap forward.

“InternetNZ welcomed John Key’s announcement in April 2008 that National shared our vision of fibre being available to all. Since then, we have been strong supporters of the Government’s plans to deliver on that promise.

“InternetNZ is also delighted that Enable is the Crown’s partner in Christchurch. We advocated this shortly after the second Canterbury earthquake in February: a community-owned fibre provider that could focus on rolling fibre out as part of reconstruction made sense.

“It’s been a tough process so far. Everyone has picked up a few bruises. The outcome isn’t perfect but now it’s time to put that behind us and look forward. We must now lift our sights from the network and focus on actually realising the full potential of a networked nation. There is a lot of work and innovation needed from government, businesses and communities to work together if we are going to get the full economic and social benefits from this investment in our future.

“That is where our focus will now turn, along with maintaining a watching brief on issues that might emerge during the rollout.

“The structural separation of Telecom which now looms means that in the fixed line telecommunications market, New Zealand has for now solved the problems caused by a vertically integrated monopoly.

“We welcome this change. It is the logical way to structure the industry. From staunch opposition, Telecom has now agreed to this approach – a change of view on their part we always hoped to see,” Vikram Kumar says.

InternetNZ will be analysing the information on the agreements released, and awaits a further announcement by Hon Steven Joyce later today.

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