Council submits on government broadband initiative

The Queenstown Lakes District Council has made a submission on central government’s broadband investment proposal, seeking changes to ensure this district can reap the benefits of the initiative.

The government proposal aims to invest up to $1.5 billion to accelerate the roll-out of ultra fast broadband to 75% of New Zealanders by offering 25 predetermined regions the opportunity to submit a proposal to partner with the government in the investment. The regions were determined based on the population of the largest 25 cities and towns in New Zealand based on the 2006 population.
“As it stands, the government’s proposal excludes the Queenstown Lakes District from participating in the proposed accelerated broadband initiative,” said corporate and regulatory general manager Roger Taylor.

The council was concerned that the selection criterion for participating regions is too blunt for such a major investment decision.

“In particular we consider that the chosen measure for determining which regions can participate in the initiative is not future focused, uses the wrong measure of population and ignores important issues such as likely broadband uptake,” Mr Taylor said.

The council submitted that criterion for participating regions should be based on future population estimates, should use total population, not usually resident population, and should apply estimated broadband uptake rates to base population estimates.
Mr Taylor said the council’s own future growth projections coupled with broadband uptake figures from the 2006 census data would easily place the Queenstown Lakes District in the 25 regions eligible to submit a proposal.

The council also felt that there hadn’t been enough consideration given to tourism as a key driver for the country’s economy.

“Increasingly, visitors see the availability of high speed broadband services as an essential part of their experience so they can remain connected to business and family when they’re away from home,” he said.

The government intended to report back to Cabinet on submissions and implementation details by the end of May.
A full copy of the council’s submission is available on the council website www.qldc.govt.nz