Big internet boost for remote and provincial communities

The government is to spend tens of millions of dollars to get fast speed internet access in provincial and rural communities.

Telecommunication suppliers will be asked to tender on a regional basis and it is hoped to have a substantial portion of the work completed by the end of next year.

The initiative is jointly funded through Votes Education and Economic Development. The exact amount of funding will remain confidential for commercial reasons.

Economic Development Minister Jim Anderton said broadband was crucial for New Zealand’s economic and social development and fundamental to transforming the economy.

“This initiative will open the door to future opportunities for rural and provincial businesses as well as enhance social development. It will make running businesses easier by providing better access to markets and information. We’re expecting it to particularly benefit the primary product industries and tourism.

“It will also have major social benefits by ensuring that people living in rural and provincial areas have the same access as other New Zealanders to the wide variety of services now available online.

“In February the government released the growth and innovation framework. Skill development and global connectedness is an important aspect of the framework and this announcement shows our commitment in this area,” Jim Anderton said.

Jim Anderton said that information gathered through the regional broadband pilots announced last year had resulted in the decision to use a regional tender process.

Education Minister Trevor Mallard said the initiative was critical to ensuring that children living in provincial and rural areas were not left behind.

“Effective use of ICT is not only desirable in education today, it is essential. There is a wealth of learning resources available online and giving children the skills to use ICT effectively is crucial to giving them the skills to succeed in the knowledge society. Children should not miss out just because of where they live.

“The government also has a range of strategies to equip teachers with the necessary skills and tools to use ICT in teaching and administration. This includes funding for ICT professional development clusters and support for laptops for secondary school teachers. ICT provides a useful way in which teachers can share ideas and resources with each other to improve the quality of their teaching.

“The initiative will also support government plans to exploit two way video over high speed internet connections to allow specialist school subjects to be taught to learners at very remote locations.

“Already pilots have shown that this could be a successful way to offer rural secondary school students access to as wide a range of subjects as is available in the city. It also allows teachers in remote communities to be national leaders in subject niches in a way previously unthought of,” Trevor Mallard said.

The Ministers acknowledged the work of IT Minister Paul Swain and the regional broadband forum for the work done in testing the regional broadband aggregation model.