Vodafone and Farmside are part of the rural broadband solution

Within the past few days, Federated Farmers has delivered both a brickbat and a bouquet to the big two mobile telecommunication companies, with the Federation cautiously welcoming Vodafone’s partnership with rural satellite broadband provider, Farmside.

“Anything that boosts the economic potential of agriculture by increasing access to rural broadband is welcome,” says Donald Aubrey, Federated Farmers telecommunications spokesperson.

“Federated Farmers welcomes the increased focus by Telecom and now Vodafone in the rural sector. Broadband is absolutely essential to farm businesses and farmers need the same speeds being offered in urban New Zealand.

“This proposal from Vodafone and Farmside seems to open the door to greater integration between fixed line, satellite broadband and mobile services. That’s welcome because integration generally means more options with a lower cost.

“Federated Farmers would welcome more detail from Vodafone and Farmside about the savings their hook-up will bring farmers.

“That’s why we enthusiastically backed Telecom’s proposal in April to extend fibre to every school and medical centre. This will deliver a wide geographic spread of fibre and creates a level playing field for core services between town and country. Fibre is a 100-year solution for rural New Zealand, augmented by mobile broadband and satellite services.

“Federated Farmers is also working closely with the Government as it develops its policy relating to rural fibre.

“But the diverse nature of New Zealand’s topography means there is much need for wireless solutions, combining mobile broadband like Telecom’s new GSM based XT network and Vodafone’s own 3G GSM network.

“Where fixed line and 3G mobile isn’t available, satellite services such as Farmside come into the frame. It forms part of the telecommunications toolkit farmers can access.

“The Achilles heel with satellite is its current high cost and speed limitations relative to other services. Being a Farmside customer in the High Country, I must say that its satellite broadband service has opened a whole new world dial-up didn’t.

“Ultimately, this is about adding farmers as full members of the digital economy and ultra-fast broadband will boost on-farm productivity,” Mr Aubrey concluded.