Editorial: Broadband is missing in paradise

To lift our depressed Hawke's Bay economy Prime Minister John Key has suggested you can be an entrepreneur and live in this "beautiful part of the world" and sell to the world via the internet. But that is not my experience.

In 2001, with my parliamentary news service newsroom.co.nz employing 10 staff and growing rapidly, I decided to return home to Hawke's Bay to be nearer my family and fulfil my dream of living in the Tukituki Valley and "telecommuting".

Foolishly, I just assumed the farm had broadband capability, only to discover it did not.

To try to get around this, I was an early adopter of satellite technology, spending tens of thousands of dollars in my quest for broadband. I have five satellite dishes on the homestead roof to prove it, and pay hundreds of dollars a month for an internet service which doesn't cut the mustard by a long shot.

Satellite is the poor man's broadband. For example, you can barely do video calls on Skype, let alone voice calls. Videos on YouTube stop and start because the download speed can't keep up.

Telecom told me I am never likely to get high speed broadband. In Telecom's eyes, upgrading my infrastructure just isn't worth it, which is kind of understandable given it is responsible only to its shareholders.

Even after the Government has spent billions of dollars on its so-called "broadband initiative" it appears my valley, just 20 minutes from Havelock North, will be left in the Stone Age.

It's not like I am out the back of the Ruahine Ranges. But even local companies Unison and Now (formerly Airnet), which are showing strong and credible leadership in this area, say they can't help me either.

And I am not alone. I often hear stories of pathetic broadband infrastructure in the really beautiful parts of Hawke's Bay.

A friend in Waipukurau rang Telecom recently to complain of inadequate broadband coverage only to be told: "Well, you do live in Waipukurau!"

People tell me it's all my own fault for wanting to live in the country. "There are other internet entrepreneurs here who are perfectly happy." But they live in Havelock North, Hastings or Napier, and those places have no attraction for me.

My home is exactly the "beautiful part of the world" John Key talked about, but running another internet business from there is just not viable because I have no credible broadband and am never likely to.

For now, I am content to work a 40-hour week and raise a family. But the entrepreneur in me stirs and sadly, Mr Key, to ensure success, I will not be able to do my next big thing in Hawke's Bay because there's no broadband in paradise.

peter,fowler@hbtoday.co.nz  Twitter: @hapua