NZ Govt selects Telecom NZ and Vodafone NZ for rural broadband

The New Zealand Government has selected a joint proposal from Telecom NZ and Vodafone NZ to deliver the country’s Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI).

According to a joint statement from both companies, Telecom and Vodafone are both “delighted” that their joint proposal had been selected.

“From the outset we’ve believed our proposal, which over-delivers on the government’s RBI objectives, could deliver the most benefit to rural New Zealand,” said Vodafone NZ CEO Russell Stanners.

According to Stanners, the proposal will deliver benefits beyond broadband coverage.

“Rural Kiwis will see a significant expansion of mobile voice, SMS and data coverage,” he said.

Mark Ratcliffe, CEO of Telecom NZ’s network business Chorus, said work on the initiative would begin immediately.

“Because we’re able to build on significant existing infrastructure, capability and experience, we can achieve a whole lot in a very short period of time. Within the first year we will have connected around 500 rural schools to fibre,” Ratcliffe said.

According to the organisations involved, the RBI will provide 100 Mbps services to 95% of rural schools, and a minimum 5 Mbps broadband service to over 80% of rural households, within six years.

The RBI infrastructure will be open access, meaning all RBI-funded fibre and wireless components will be available on an equivalent basis to access seekers and wholesale customers, so any party can offer services over the new infrastructure.

Vodafone NZ is building an additional 154 cell towers which, when linked to the Telecom NZ fibre network, will deliver high-speed broadband services wirelessly. Each tower’s infrastructure will allow open access for other operators to co-locate on.

The companies will now begin a period of engagement with rural stakeholder groups before build work commences in July.