Rural Women New Zealand welcomes Rural Broadband Initiative announcement

Rural Women New Zealand congratulations Telecom and Vodafone on today’s announcement that the Government will run with their bid under the Rural Broadband Initiative.

“It is a great step forward after a long period of inactivity in the rollout of rural broadband for rural communities,” says RWNZ National President, Liz Evans.

We acknowledge the pragmatic approach of Minister of Communications, Hon Steven Joyce, in recognizing the benefits of Telecom and Vodafone working together to build on their existing infrastructure to provide flexible broadband solutions for rural.

“With our strong focus on equity for rural customers, we are also pleased to note that wholesale prices will be comparable to urban pricing.

“For the same reason, we invite Minister Steven Joyce, to come up with a fair and innovative solution for the 20 percent of rural customers who will not be covered by this agreement. Many of these customers live in isolated areas where their only option will be the more expensive satellite option.

“We also look forward to seeing competitive rural deals from other telcos who will have open access to the fibre and wireless networks being established by Telecom and Vodafone under the Rural Broadband Initiative.”

While Rural Women New Zealand realizes the rollout is a big task, involving laying 3,100 kms of fibre and building 154 new cellphone towers, we would also welcome any advance on the six year contracted timeframe to complete this rollout.