Time for broadband to hit the trenches and the airwaves
With the Government today shortlisting Torotoro Waea, FX Networks/OpenGate and Telecom/Vodafone for the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI), Federated Farmers is laying down its bottom line for what the Initiative should deliver (see attached).
“Federated Farmers is pleased to see the shortlist, but remains concerned at the lack of real ambition, and the underfunding relative to the urban shortlist announced yesterday,” says Donald Aubrey, Federated Farmers Telecommunications spokesperson.
“Federated Farmers’ bottom line is pretty simple. Of the one million Kiwis deemed rural, we want the greatest number possible to get the fastest broadband speeds as quickly as possible, as efficiently as possible and as cheap as possible.
“Federated Farmers is passionate about rural broadband, which is critical to all New Zealanders.
“Look at it like this. One million Kiwis in rural New Zealand produce 66 percent of our exports and provide the heart of our multi-billion dollar tourism industry, yet it’s the urban scheme that’s getting as much as 20 to 100 times more speed.
“We don’t begrudge that but we need to make sure that we future proof rural New Zealand as well. The one thing we don’t want to export from our rural areas is our next generation.
“Ultrafast rural broadband means more productivity and social connectedness. Rural people are people too. And we know that many of our city cousins would be interested in living in rural New Zealand if they too could get the speeds expected in the city.
“It’s great to see the shortlist, as Federated Farmers worked damn hard to successfully lift the RBI spend from a paltry $48 million to $300 million.
“The Government now needs to quickly get through the tender process to the best possible outcome. Then we want to see the fibre hit the trenches and the wireless broadband over the airwaves,” Mr Aubrey concluded.
For further comment:
Donald Aubrey, Federated Farmers telecommunications spokesperson, 03 696 3747, 027 623 7157
Below are some points from Federated Farmers’ submission to the Ministry of Economic Development on November 12 2010:
Broadband Speed:
Our view is that the RBI targets do not future proof the rural community and are generally too low. We are seeking a step change that will leapfrog our rural community forward, rather then spending decades playing catch-up.
Coverage:
Obviously we want 100 percent of rural people to get broadband. However we do appreciate the topography challenges and the economic trade offs that sometimes have to be made. While fibre gives the best performance, the solution will be a portfolio of technologies. It is important that New Zealand gains the advantage of emerging technologies such as LTE.
Wholesale cost:
This needs to reflect the benefit of the $300 million input and be around $30 month.
Retail cost:
This needs to be around $60 for an excellent service to facilitate uptake.
Data caps:
We don’t like data caps. They should only be used where there is a proven technical requirement to manage performance.
Ability for real competition:
Competition encourages innovation and value for money. In our view it is in the best interests of end users to have real retail competition on the RBI services and that the successful infrastructure bidder should provide a ‘NETCO’ service to all operators enabling them to sell minutes and megabytes to consumers. Consumers can then swap their retail provider from Vodafone to Telecom to 2degrees to Woosh for example. This will ensure a increased amount of competitive tension whereby end users can ‘vote with their consumer behaviour’ for the best call centres, the best and most suitable handsets, and the best value-added software and content services.
However in its current state, the RBI may trap consumers to an almost monopoly provider for several generations to come.
We have had concern regarding this for mobile termination rates and have worked to get them regulated. Whatever outcome there is from this process it is vital that the regulatory framework ensures competition.
Levy money:
The outcome of this request for proposal (RFP) process must not be influenced by what commercial organisations pay to the new levy to fund rural broadband (i.e. it’s only fair that those who pay the levy should get it back), but must be determined on the greatest benefit to rural people and communities.
Infrastructure:
It could be a concern if the government ended up simply funding the incumbents’ expansion of their existing tower network, in a similar manner that Project Probe did. The successful bidder should be providing a true open access solution all the way to the end customer to allow local, regional and national service providers to participate. Therefore existing towers should be made available on a similar basis to any new towers, and/or the per-minute model suggested above adopted.
Rollout timeframes:
On current RBI timeframes, in six years time (circa 2017/2018) some in the rural community may still be waiting to get broadband at speeds that those in urban New Zealand have had for over a decade. We do appreciate funding and logistical constraints but obviously the earlier the rollout the better.