Wairoa scraps town-wide Wifi plan

In a submission on the plan, resident Mike Little called the Wifi a "grandiose" technology idea which risked lumping the council with "an unusable and outdated lemon". Photo / Thinkstock

The plug has been pulled on plans to build a town-wide Wifi network in Wairoa after ratepayers voiced their opposition to funding the project.

Wairoa District Council had promoted the initiative, which it believed had the potential to collectively save residents millions of dollars a year in internet and phone charges.

It would have involved the council borrowing $900,000 to set up a town-wide Wifi network with access to the internet through 150 hot-spots set up on street light poles.

The $270,000 annual cost of running the network would have been met through an increase in rates, with the average urban ratepayer facing a rise of $22 per month, or $264 a year.

The council said the network would have enabled residents to quit their existing telecommunications providers, collectively saving the town's 1990 households between $2.3 million and $6 million - depending on how many made the switch.

But the idea has been scrapped after failing to win sufficient support through the public consultation process the council carried out following the publication of its draft long-term plan, a spending blueprint setting out its proposed budget over the next 10 years.

In a submission on the plan, resident Mike Little called the Wifi a "grandiose" technology idea which risked lumping the council with "an unusable and outdated lemon".

Former district councillor Chris Joblin said the project was "fraught with pitfalls" and likened it to Napier's failed art deco bus tourism venture.

The Wairoa branch of Federated Farmers said it was a service which "should be left to the market to determine".

The idea was also opposed by the local budget advisory service, which said it would result in an "enforced rate increase" which could not be afforded by many in the community.

Wairoa District Council already provides a free Wifi service in the town's central business district.