Ernie Newman: Far too slow on the uptake

Ernie Newman

Fact one: we're all working too hard. According to an OECD report released last month, hours worked in New Zealand have increased 7.7 per cent since 2000.
This is the highest equal increase in the OECD, alongside Spain. Around half the OECD nations have been steadily reducing working hours - Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Norway and Sweden among them.

Fact two: we remain near the bottom of the developed world in our uptake of broadband services. The latest OECD statistics (June 2004) show us as ninth from bottom, vying with the Czech and Slovak Republics, Turkey and Poland - not countries we'd normally want to compare ourselves with.

Are these facts connected? You bet.

In its early days the internet was a repository for information. Knowledge that had been out of reach was suddenly a click of a mouse away. It seemed breathtakingly fast - even a 56K dial-up line was infinitely better than waiting for the mail.

As the internet, and our familiarity with it, advanced we grew to view it as something we could interact with. We created our business and personal websites, communicated by instant messaging, and found more sophisticated uses, such as music and video.

We also started noticing that slower speeds limited the online experience.

Thanks to broadband the internet is becoming a fast, robust network that connects organisations, schools and homes worldwide. With modest technical know-how we not only exchange information across it, but also make things happen - not just see what's happening in another city, but flick a switch there.

With a web cam that costs less than a movie ticket for two we can send a live image across the city or the world for almost zero cost. We can make a voice call by computer for around the same price as an email - with a video picture attached. Voice, video, television, robotics, telemetry, GPS, wireless and other functions can be linked across the internet in a trillion innovative ways.

As a result, location is fast becoming irrelevant. Thousands now live in one country and effectively work in another. The link to productivity is obvious. Technically almost any task can be performed from anywhere. The opportunities are boundless.

Boundless, that is, as long as you have not only the technology, skills and imagination to put it to work, but the high-speed access. Herein lies New Zealand's problem. As tail-end Charlie in uptake, we have a huge catch-up job ahead. Even now I don't believe that the Government fully appreciates the enormity of the gap.

The problem began 10 years ago when soft policy-making resulted in Telecom retaining a monopoly on local line access across most of New Zealand. With no competitor able to drive broadband through healthy competition, the speed of our uptake depended on Telecom's goodwill rather than the market forces that drove it elsewhere. The shock decision by the Commerce Commission last year not to follow the international-norm of "unbundling" added to the problem.

Telecom, to its credit, has reacted to pressure by accelerating its rollout. But all this has done is slow our rate of relative decline.

The link to working fewer hours may be less obvious, but is crucial.

Without access to the enabling facility, New Zealanders have been slower than others to develop the applications and efficiency gains it is delivering in more advanced countries. And, make no mistake, we have massive gains to make.

Farmers will be able to make vast improvements in productivity. Health data will be accessible more readily and efficiently. Elderly folk will be able to look after themselves in their own homes for longer with modern communications to back them up. Businesses of all kinds - from vets and panel beaters to tourism operators and restaurants - will find myriad ways to enhance efficiency - leaving us free to spend less time working and more time enjoying the fruits of our labours.

If you don't believe me check out www.tuanz.org.nz for an array of wide-ranging, New Zealand-centric ideas produced by 200 industry leaders and visionaries.

More time at the beach is within our grasp. But before we make ground we have to recover that which we have lost. Working smarter rather than harder is the key, but the infrastructure must be there. If the Government is serious about getting us back to the top half of the OECD in living standards, it must respond to the fact that communication-wise we are near the bottom. And as individuals we must all focus more on the efficiency-enabling opportunities that are waiting to be grasped.

* Ernie Newman is chief executive of the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand (Tuanz) and chairs the Brussels-based International Telecommunications Users Group (Intug).