Fast internet to bring country up to speed

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Once it was crank-handled telephones and party lines. Now rural New Zealand is going online with fast internet access, in a programme costing tens of millions of dollars.

By the end of 2004, schoolchildren in the remotest parts of New Zealand should have the same high-speed internet access as city kids.

Rural businesses, health centres, libraries, tourist companies, transport operators and marae will also benefit.

In what the Government calls a major initiative, telecommunication companies will be asked to tender to provide high-speed internet access region by region.

The programme will cost the Education and Economic Development Ministries tens of millions of dollars.

Andrew Ducat, principal of Matawai School between Gisborne and Opotiki, said the school's 90 pupils now had to make do with a maximum of five or six computers using a single telephone line.

"We don't bother trying to download anything because it takes so long."

Mr Ducat said fast internet access could offer benefits such as access, via video conferences, to teachers at the Correspondence School for specialist lessons such as music. "The opportunities are boundless and limited only by your imagination."

The nationwide project follows a $300,000 fast internet access pilot in five regions, including a Far North proposal using wireless technology.

Far North Development Trust chairman Chris Mathews welcomed the news to take the project nationwide, saying it had come about through a partnership between the Government, local communities and the private sector.

"It's as fundamental to the development of the regions as roads, rail and electricity," he said.

Mr Mathews said Telecom had started offering Jetstream fast internet access to subscribers living within 3km of the Paihia, Kerikeri and Kaitaia town centres.

"We are delighted about that. A year ago Telecom said they would never get these services. But this [Government project] is about economic and community development for impoverished remote rural areas," Mr Mathews said.

In his Budget speech, Finance Minister Michael Cullen said the early beneficiaries of fast internet would be schools, but local businesses and Government departments would benefit later.

"This initiative emphasises the growing importance of the links between education and economic development in the new economy. If New Zealand needs to be a networked nation, it equally needs to be a learning nation," Dr Cullen said.

The Government's aim was to ensure the majority of schools had high-speed, two-way internet by the end of next year and the more remote schools by the end of 2004.

Education Minister Trevor Mallard said children should not miss out on the wealth of learning opportunities through the internet just because of where they lived.

"The Government also has a range of strategies to equip teachers with the necessary skills and tools to use the internet in teaching and administration."

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