Rural Women calls for changes to $300m rural broadband spending

RURAL Women New Zealand is calling on the Government to re-think its$300 million Rural Broadband Initiative, in a white paper releasedrecently.
"The current proposal is unfair, as around half of rural households willhave access to ultra-fast broadband, while the other half will remainstranded on dial-up internet, or have to pay for expensive wireless orsatellite connections," says RWNZ telecommunications spokesperson, JackyStafford.Rural Women New Zealand says the $300 million rural broadband funding isa precious resource and must be spent wisely."
The Government must avoid costly duplication of the existing coppernetwork that can deliver acceptable broadband at a much lower cost thanthe planned fibre-based alternatives," says Ms Stafford.
In line with overseas approaches, Rural Women New Zealand's white paperrecommends the Government's first priority must be 100 percent basicbroadband coverage for rural at city prices, before spending money ondelivering ultra-fast broadband to rural schools and those fortunatehouseholds which happen to share the same phone cabinets."We shouldn't be gold-plating existing broadband services for some,while leaving the rest stranded.  Equal access for all rural householdsand farms should be the primary goal."
Rural Women New Zealand says approximately 100,000 rural householdsmissed out when some rural phone cabinets had broadband installed aspart of the schools-based Project PROBE in 2003/04, and the situation isunlikely to improve under the new Rural Broadband Initiative.For this 'stranded half', satellite and wireless broadband have been themain alternatives, but price has proven to be a real barrier, resultingin only 13% broadband uptake."This is third-world standard, and not acceptable in our internet-basedsociety," says Ms Stafford.
This compares with 52 percent broadband uptake for the 'fortunate half'of rural households which are connected to broadband-enabled phonecabinets, giving them access to city-priced deals.Rural Women New Zealand is also recommending subsidising satellite andwireless companies so they can offer city-priced broadband for the last10-15% of rural households for whom these are the only long-termsolutions, along the lines of the Australian Broadband Guarantee scheme.Rural Women New Zealand says there has been no significant consultationwith the stranded 100,000 households, and little sign of any detailedanalysis of overseas approaches to the problem."Without a universal service focus a large proportion of ruralhouseholds will continue to struggle without affordable broadband accessand will be a political thorn-in-the-side indefinitely.  We urge theGovernment to take another look at this important issue," says Ms Stafford.