Speedy rural broadband a step closer

Steven Joyce. Photo / APN

Rural New Zealanders are in line for a mobile telecommunications boost under three proposals shortlisted to bring them high-speed broadband.

The bids from a Telecom and Vodafone collaboration; Woosh, Kordia pooling infrastructure with fibre specialist FX Networks; and Torotoro Waea, a Maori-backed consortium aided by telecommunications specialist Opto Network, all feature high-speed wireless technology linking farming households.

Binding contracts to connect rural households at speeds of at least five megabits per second are expected be signed with the successful parties early in the New Year.

Research commissioned by Vodafone showed a preference among rural customers for mobile voice and broadband over a fixed-line option if it came down to a choice between the two.

Vodafone's Steve Rieger said the rural-urban digital divide is much more than broadband.

"It's actually broadband and mobile," he said.

Federated Farmers chief executive Conor English said telecommunications services need to be available across the farm.

"You need the combination of fixed and wireless. You can't build one or the other, you need both," English said.

"I can see a day that every farmer has an iPad-type device tucked in his pocket filled with applications that help build productivity on his farm."

Adversaries in the retail market, Vodafone and Telecom have pooled resources in a bid that would see Telecom's Chorus business run out fibre to 154 new cell sites built by Vodafone as part of a $300 million Government rural broadband initiative.

The new towers would be open access to allow other operators to install equipment and use the fibre connections on the same terms as Vodafone.

"The reality is that these new towers will be far cheaper for operators to co-locate on than existing towers because of the government grant," said Telecom spokeswoman Katherine Murphy.

Woosh strategic adviser Martyn Levy last week said the Telecom/Vodafone proposal was "prohibitive and anticompetitive" for competing telecommunications service providers.

The OpenGate consortium of Woosh, Kordia with FX Networks showcased its preferred technology choice last week - TD LTE or time duplex long-term evolution, a variant of the LTE technology that is a high data speed progression of 3G mobile technology - with the help of Australian operator VividWireless.

VividWireless is one of several companies, including telcos in India and China, running trials of the TD-LTE technology over 2.3GHz spectrum, the same spectrum band held by Kordia and Woosh.

Its chief operations officer Max Trochei said the speeds and quality of services over a 4G technology is different to those available on 3G mobile technology, which he said is essentially a voice network with data on it.

"If you want wireless internet, use 3G. If you want mobile broadband use LTE," said Trochei.

Communications and IT Minister Steven Joyce has visited the VividWireless head office in Perth to look at the equipment and performance trials of the technology behind its wireless network.

The Torotoro Waea bid also hopes to deploy LTE technology from cell towers connected by fibre to bring broadband to rural households.

Spokesman Antony Royal said the consortium proposed using spectrum suitable for LTE likely to be made available when analogue television broadcast ceased.