Lag in broadband upsets tech giants

New Zealand's woeful broadband uptake has local leaders of tech giants Intel, IBM, Microsoft and Symantec urging the Government to take action on the matter.

They say the digital divide between connected countries and laggards such as New Zealand is widening and therefore becoming a danger for business.

New Zealand is ranked 22nd out of 30 countries in the OECD rankings with only 10 per cent of homes connected - or half the OECD average.

The tech giants are moving delivery of their products online and out of stores. They say poor broadband uptake is affecting that delivery negatively.

"The days of the yellow box are already over in some countries," said David Sykes, Pacific region vice-president of security and storage heavyweight Symantec, referring to the distinctive packaging of Symantec's best-known product, Norton Anti-virus software. But that's not the case here.

"Despite our best efforts, you still don't want to be downloading Norton Internet Security on something like a 256 [kilobit per second] line."

Microsoft, perhaps the biggest company moving towards online distribution of its software, has also weighed in on the issue.

Communications Minister David Cunliffe told Computerworld in November Microsoft had put him "on notice" that broadband action needed to be taken.

Microsoft New Zealand's chief technology officer, Brett Roberts, said the comments were somewhat out of context but he confirmed the company's position.

"Certainly in stepping out the future plans for our business and our ambitions and vision for the New Zealand technology sector as well as the economy more broadly, we have emphasised broadband's importance."

Many tech firms don't consider the 256kbps speed - only five times faster than dial-up and the basic high-speed service offered by Telecom - as true broadband. Worse still is the upload speed, which Telecom sets at 128kbps.

Telecom has put forward several arguments as to why New Zealand lags in OECD broadband uptake, saying uptake has been held back by the popularity of dial-up access.

But Sykes said those excuses were without merit.

Sean Casey, business development manager for Intel, said the poor broadband situation was directly affecting what the company could and could not sell here.

The company's Viiv home entertainment centre - which allows users to download telecasts and first-run movies - is scheduled for launching next month in Australia. But Intel has no concrete plans for it here.

"At this time, it doesn't make a lot of sense," he said.

Intel says that although it isn't in the business of telling governments what to do, the effects of what has happened elsewhere are obvious.

"In some of the countries, the Government gets involved. South Korea - why are they at 80 per cent [uptake]? Because the Government said it will be so," Casey said.

Katrina Troughton, managing director of IBM New Zealand and chairwoman of the Government's Digital Strategy advisory group, said broadband was "fundamental to our economy moving forward".

"It is about what is and isn't available here yet. We have a long way to go. It is absolutely something that should continue to be watched."