Government digs deep to create a wired society

The Government is increasing its commitment to developing a knowledge society with an extra $60 million for its Digital Strategy, including $44.7 million of contestable funding.

The strategy, released yesterday in advance of the Budget, says creating a knowledge society will require connections to the internet to be instantaneous, affordable and available everywhere.

"Content needs to be diverse, high-quality and of value to New Zealand users," said Associate Minister of Information Technology David Cunliffe. "Technology must be designed with people in mind, who have the capability and confidence to use it to fully enrich their lives."

He said the Government would spend up to $400 million on digital strategy initiatives in the next five years.

The Digital Strategy document revealed for the first time the total cost of the Provincial Broadband Extension project, or Probe. It came in at $48 million, and a further $1.44 million will be available this year to extend it to the last remaining areas.

While the Government says Probe "helped introduce competition to the market", the bulk of the money went to Telecom.

But an indication that the Government is looking further than Telecom to create a true broadband infrastructure comes from what it is calling Broadband Challenge - $24 million over the next four years for partnerships intending to deploy open-access fibre networksin regional centres.

Many of these partnerships will be driven by what are called MUSH networks, standing for municipalities, universities, schools and hospitals.

By 2007, the Government wants all main businesses, research institutes, MUSH networks and medium-size provincial businesses to be able to get fibre connections with on-demand fast broadband, capable of video conferencing.

The target for residential customers and small and medium enterprises is lower - copper or wireless connections, and only 60 per cent access to fast broadband.

To build community capacity, including training in information and communications technology skills and developing regional or community-specific content, the Government is putting $20.7 million into a Community Partnership Fund.

"The trick with community stuff is communities can be hard to reach and you can't run them out of Wellington," Cunliffe said. "Communities need to come to you with partners to say what they need, so there will be a contestable fund with criteria for allocation and an advisory board where the best project wins."

He said the Broadband Challenge and Community Partnership Fund had a multi-year carry-over, so there was no pressure to spend if suitable projects were not available.

On the business side, the Ministry of Economic Development will spend $10.4 million in the next four years turning its biz.org.nz website into a "world-class" one-stop information and assistance portal.

The Government has also set a target to lift the growth rate of the ICT sector towards 10 per cent of gross domestic product by firm-focused industry development.

The sector will be sceptical of that target unless something is done about the Government's own $2 billion of spending, which on the technology side has been accused of favouring imported hardware and software over local developments.

Cunliffe said the ICTX working party, which includes Government and industry representatives, should help to resolve some of those issues.

The Budget will set aside $200,000 for 10 industry-led ICT procurement workshops to improve sector participation in Government contracts, and $100,000 for a training module to help public-sector ICT purchasers make better decisions.

Continuing support was promised for existing programmes, such as the Education Ministry's e-Education initiatives, the advanced network being planned for the universities, and the National Digital Heritage Archive being put together by the National Library and Archives New Zealand.

Digital dollars

* The Government will spend up to $400 million on digital strategy initiatives over the next five years.
* There are plans for an open-access broadband infrastructure, with funding for partnerships intending to deploy fibre networks.
* ICT growth rate targeted for 10 per cent of gross domestic product.