12. TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) Link to this
to the Minister for Communications and Information Technology
What response has the Government received to the Rural Broadband Initiative?
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Communications and Information Technology) Link to this
I am pleased to report that the Government has received 39 responses to its call for expressions of interest in the Rural Broadband Initiative. Interest has come from a range of infrastructure companies in New Zealand and abroad, and includes nine substantial expressions of interest covering rural areas across the entire country. The responses contain some innovative ideas for the deployment of fast broadband to rural communities and schools, and Ministry of Economic Development officials will now consider them.
The Rural Broadband Initiative will see 93 percent of rural schools connected to the Internet by fibre within 6 years, allowing them to interact with specialist teachers by videoconferencing, view high-definition documentaries, and access international collections of educational resources. In addition, most rural communities will receive fast broadband speeds of at least 5 megabits per second, delivering an end to dial-up Internet and allowing online accounting, farm management, banking tools, third-generation mobile services, and access to popular video sites like YouTube and Parliament TV, on both of which people can see their parliamentary representatives in action.
Clare CurranWill the Minister guarantee that his Government will meet the targets of the Rural Broadband Initiative, given it is investing just $48 million of taxpayers’ money in its rural scheme compared with $1.5 billion in its urban scheme?
The new telecommunications development levy, together with the direct Government investment, will be around the $300 million mark. I point out once again to the member that we cannot directly compare the urban and rural policies, because the urban amount is an investment that the Government ultimately expects to have returned to it, whereas the rural network amount is a grant. The urban and rural networks start from different points. Many rural households and businesses are struggling on dial-up, whereas the urban network is an investment in ultra-fast broadband.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
Further to the Minister’s reference to YouTube, I note that only four people have viewed his Federated Farmers speech on YouTube compared with 18,000 who have viewed the analysis in this House of his academic record—is that why he wants to upgrade rural broadband?