Responses flood in for Fed Farmers' connectivity survey

Federated Farmers' Vice President, Andrew Hoggard. Photo / Supplied

Plenty of rural folk have jumped at the chance to respond to a Federated Farmers survey on the quality of telecommunications connectivity out in the provinces.

Plenty of rural folk have jumped at the chance to respond to a Federated Farmers survey on the quality of telecommunications connectivity out in the provinces.

There were close to 500 responses within 24 hours of the launch of the survey.

"It's hardly surprising because we know from member feedback that broadband and mobile blackspots cause considerable frustration," says Federated Farmers vice-president Andrew Hoggard.

"Technology is a huge and increasing facet of modern farming. "If the apps and programmes on farmers' digital devices drop out or run at crawl-speeds, they simply can't run their businesses efficiently."

With the impending roll out of the Rural Broadband Initiative Phase Two and Mobile Black Spot Fund, the Federated Farmers survey is about gaining an up-to-date understanding of coverage and connectivity standards in rural areas around the nation.

"The intention is to run this survey every year," says Andrew. "The beauty of the system we are using is that we will be able to also map survey responses year on year, meaning we can show over time where the situation is improving or where it is getting worse."

The survey closed last week.