Hold the phone - no rural broadband decision today
Minister dismisses report that the MED has sent a recommendation to cabinet for its $300 million rural broadband tender.
Minister dismisses report that the MED has sent a recommendation to cabinet for its $300 million rural broadband tender.
A Stuff/DominionPost this morning* said that the Ministry of Economic Development has reached a recommendation for the government's $300 million rural broadband initiative (RBI).
The MED was supposed to have reached its recommendation - for the joint Telecom/Vodafone - last week, and the government would announce the Telecom/Vodafone win this morning.
A spokeswoman for Communications Minister Steven Joyce's office told NBR that the DominionPost article was "misinformed".
"Nothing has gone to cabinet. We don't have a firm date for the announcement yet."
On Friday, Mr Joyce told NBR that he expected an update - but not necessarily its recommendation - from the MED in around two weeks.
Late last year, the government shortlisted three contenders for the RBI: the joint Telecom-Vodafone bid (still seen by NBR as a strong contender); a consortium consisting of Kordia, FX Networks and Woosh; and an iwi group called Torotoro Waea.
* Now updated.