7. DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) Link to this
to the Minister for Communications and Information Technology
What announcements have been made in relation to rural broadband?
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Communications and Information Technology) Link to this
Today I announced coverage targets to deliver fast broadband to rural communities around the country. Within the next 6 years 93 percent of rural schools will receive fibre enabling speeds of at least 100 megabits per second, with the remaining 7 percent to achieve speeds of at least 10 megabits per second. Over 80 percent of rural households will have access to broadband with speeds of at least 5 to 10 megabits per second, with the remainder to achieve speeds of at least 1 megabit per second. Delivering fast broadband to rural New Zealanders is an important priority for the Government, alongside our $1.5 billion urban broadband initiative. It is crucial to ensure we capture the economic growth and productivity opportunities available in the rural sector.
Fibre backhaul is currently the primary limiting factor in the delivery of rural broadband. Providing fibre connections to the vast majority of rural schools will also deliver the capacity to provide faster broadband to the communities those schools serve. The Government’s focus will be on those areas that will not benefit from Telecom’s current fibre-to-the-node upgrade programme. My expectation is that the total cost of this policy will be around $300 million, and it will be delivered through a mix of public and private funding.
Clare CurranIf the $300 million estimated cost of the rural broadband package is on top of the $1.5 billion already promised, what proportion of it will be Government funded and where will that money come from?
The Government will be making announcements on the funding of the $300 million and the mix of public and private funding in the next 1 or 2 weeks.
Around half of all rural households are currently coping with dial-up speeds, which frankly is not good enough in the 21st century. Our rural initiative will ensure that rural households have access to modern, fast broadband speeds. Also, most rural schools will join urban schools in having ultra-fast fibre broadband connections delivering speeds of 100 megabits per second or more. Altogether, 97 percent of New Zealand schools and 99.7 percent of New Zealand students will have fibre-based connections, while the remaining schools will have connections of at least 10 megabits per second. This will ensure that New Zealand schoolchildren are full participants in the digital age.