Furious George: The Broadband Blues

Dom calls bull on fast broadband promises. As illustrated in this professional image.

The issue of illegal streaming has been the hot topic of debate this week in the wake of Joseph Parker's victory over Carlos Takam on Saturday night. Duco's Dean Lonergan admittedly reacted with a solid jerk of the knee on Sunday, promising to hang, draw and quarter those who streamed the fight on Facebook. Cries of theft and skulduggery could be heard loud and clear the length and breadth of the country, while those purported to have committed this most heinous of crimes were likened to all the villainous scum that have ever graced god's green earth.

The debate has raged in the ensuing days; it was too expensive, they should go to jail, if you can get it, it's fair game and on and on and on...

But for those in some parts of rural New Zealand just having the option would have been nice. In certain pockets of the country, internet and cell phone coverage is so poor you can barely make a phone call, let alone stream a live sporting event. Despite protestations from the government their Rural Broadband Initiative is ticking the boxes, the plain truth from the mouths of those affected tells us we're still well behind the eight ball.

The Rural Health Alliance recently sent the government a six-point plan following a conference in Wellington with representation from forty-two membership organisations. Among the top recommendations was broadband connectivity. I interviewed the Chairman of the group, Dr Jo Scott-Jones on The Country: Early Edition, who revealed the main advantages of improved rural connections would be allowing centralised health services to expand more into rural communities. Those in remote locations would also be able to connect with friends and family. Why would a young doctor or professional want to move into an area where computer connections are rubbish?

Communications Minister Amy Adams has recently said ninety percent of rural New Zealand homes and businesses will have access to better broadband once the RBI is rolled out. Platitudes. Why not 100 percent? And how long is it going to take to roll out? Years?... give me a break. You can bleat on forever about so many thousands of houses, that uptake has reached so and so, there's been x-amount of tower upgrades etc, etc, but ask those who actually live there and it's a whole different story.

On the one hand the government says our export sector is of primary importance, yet at the same time they don't prioritise the very thing that will give the export producers the tools they need to realise their lofty ambitions in this regard.

I can't recall the amount of interviews I've conducted with people from all sectors, joined by a common thread; on-farm technology. Farms being run completely off mobile devices isn't some distant science-fiction-like possibility - it's very real and very close, but will our producers have the right tools at their disposal to exploit it? A lack of credible connectivity in rural New Zealand is putting farmers at a distinct disadvantage.

The evidence is out there that high speed broadband improves rural areas on a number of levels, from more people, to more jobs, to more money - you get the picture. But as Bill English reads out his eighth Budget in parliament today, you can rest assured he won't be announcing any significant increase to the already existing RBI. Why would he? He's already got your vote, he needs to offer a few bucks extra to the urban masses to entice a few more ticks in the blue box at the next election. Now more than ever the government should be pumping money into the rural sector instead of offering hollow words of condolence. Extending broadband and mobile coverage as far as they can is the way to do it. Instead of paying lip service to how much they respect and admire "the backbone of our economy", maybe they should up the ante and, like Joseph Parker, prepare to go the distance and not rest on a few early shots in the opening rounds.