Reaction to New Zealand government broadband investment initiative

Telecom New Zealand said today that the government’s release of the New
Zealand Government Broadband Investment Initiative provided further
clarity on how it planned to advance its fast broadband vision.

“This additional information will be welcomed by all players. We will now
evaluate and assess the proposal in detail as we begin to prepare our
formal submission to government.

“Specifically, Telecom will be reviewing the opportunities the initiative
presents to work with the proposed Crown Fibre Investment Company to
extend the reach of Telecom’s own ultra-fast broadband network, and to
utilise the fibre networks others may build.

“We will do this against the backdrop of Telecom’s existing $1.3 billion
programme, comprising both commercial investments and the investment
commitments we agreed with the Government last year as part of our
Undertakings on operational separation.

“Telecom supports the government’s vision of delivering very high
broadband speeds to New Zealanders, and we are investing $1.3 billion this
year alone in improving the country’s telecommunications infrastructure,
which we believe is proportionately the highest rate of investment being
made by any national telecommunications company in the world.

“This investment is rolling out fibre closer to more New Zealand
businesses and homes than ever before, and enabling more operators to take
advantage of the equal access we provide.

“We now look forward to working with government funding to complement the
government’s plans to take fast broadband even further, including to those
areas that currently are not commercially viable,” Dr Reynolds said.