“New Zealand’s geography challenged us with its rugged landscapes and isolated populations, but we got fibre to a collection of communities, many remote, small and sparsely spread throughout Aotearoa; places like Opononi, with a population of 678, Kaponga, with 312 residents, and St Arnaud, with 111, were all connected to fibre. Adding these towns to the UFB2 extension meant a further 423,000 New Zealanders would have an unconstrained connection to the world,” he says.
Chorus, along with the other fibre companies - Tuatahi First Fibre, Enable Fibre and NorthPower - have built a network that has catapulted New Zealand from being an also-ran to having world-class broadband.
In recent years the rest of the world has moved on. European Union policy is that fast fibre networks should be everywhere by 2030. Rural users will get the same services at the same price as people living in cities. Governments in Western Europe now think people in rural areas should not be second-class digital citizens. Spain aims to connect everyone by the end of 2025, other European nations are on a similar path.
Rural broadband has always been controversial in New Zealand. When Key and Joyce embarked on the UFB project 15 years ago, Connor English, with Federated Farmers at the time, said it would be best to spend the limited budget for fibre in rural areas as they needed the technology more and it was where the nation’s wealth is created. There can be good fixed wireless broadband in parts of rural New Zealand, yet there are many other places where connectivity is distinctly second-rate.
At the Chorus event Rousselot said: “What does a future without fibre look like for the 650,000 Kiwis outside the UFB footprint? While there won’t be a one-size-fts-all solution, I know that with what we have achieved already, there will be a way forward that connects Aotearoa so that we can all live, learn, work, and play in an ever-evolving digital world. There’s undoubtedly a big societal and economical value in doing so.”
To back up these sentiments, Chorus commissioned a report from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research. It concludes that extending broadband into rural areas would deliver economic benefits of $16.5 billion over 10 years.
The main beneficiary of extending high-capacity networks would be rural households who would get better employment opportunities, telehealth services and easier interactions with banks or government agencies, which increasingly want to transact digitally. Rural businesses will get around $344 million a year in time savings and a further $189.5m from productivity gains.
At the same event, Digital Economy and Communications Minister David Clark said the Government planned to further extend the fibre network. He didn’t reveal details but told the audience he expects to release a document soon, outlining the Government’s strategic vision to improve New Zealand connectivity over the next 10 years.
“It will put us on a path to providing further significant benefits for rural and remote communities and businesses. Further focus is needed to think about connectivity for our rural communities. Government will continue to work on future projects expanding the fibre footprint beyond the current areas,” said Clark.
“This will be one of the things taken into consideration as we outline those plans. We know fibre won’t be the answer to everything in every situation, finding the right mix of technology solutions and increasing people’s awareness about the options available to them will be a challenge.”
