Chris O'Connell says small rural and provincial ISPs could spend the $100 million extra up for grabs for the Rural Broadband Initiative better than Chorus or Vodafone.
UPDATE / Dec 4: www.hillsholesandpoles.nz is now live.
Nov 21: An initiative to record rural communities which have accessed better broadband and encourage other communities to follow suit is being launched today at Nethui South in Christchurch.*
InternetNZ is supporting Digital Development Associates to visit rural communities around the country to capture and collate the various innovative ways that have been used to gain access to high-speed broadband.
CEO Jordan Carter says while many rural dwellers remain poorly connected, some rural communities and companies have created their own solutions to the gaps that often see higher-speed connectivity dwindle beyond city limits.
“Innovative companies, communities and individuals have lit the way forward. Groups of farmers have trenched their fields to lay fibre; lines companies have strung it along their poles; digital pioneers have bolted on wireless equipment to allow their valley to connect at speed with the outside world.
“Each initiative stands in its own right but it stands alone. There is no repository of this hard-earned information, no point of contact where rural New Zealanders, who want better broadband, can go to ask - "How do we do that?"
Mr Carter says the Hills Holes and Poles project will collect the experiences of these broadband pioneers and package them into an on-line resource of case studies from rural communities from North to South in a “Rural Broadband Cookbook.”
The ‘Cookbook’ will provide an on-line template of potential solutions for other communities to follow at www.hillsholesandpoles.nz (going live shortly.)
Hills Holes and Poles is a project initiated by Digital Development Associates, comprising Chris O’Connell (until recently on Tuanz board), Brendon Burns and Steve Barnard. It will next week visit South Island communities collecting rural broadband case studies before going to the North Island’s East Coast the following week.
Chris O’Connell says despite significant government investment, broadband remains unaffordable for many rural dwellers.
Locals will spend the $100m better
“Some rural communities do have good connectivity through a variety of initiatives. We want to assist other communities to develop their own solutions.”
Mr O’Connell say the initiative is timely given the government recently announced an additional $100m in contestable funding under the Rural Broadband Initiative, RBI.
The ex-Tuanz director tells NBR he strongly supported the creation of new lobby group NZWIP (the New Zealand Wireless Internet Providers Association), a coalition of rural and provincial internet providers who think they can spend that $100 million better than RBI encumbents Chorus and Vodafone (Communications Minister Amy Adams has yet to detail how the top-up to the $300 million RBI will be allocated, but has said it will be contestible).
He tells NBR small rural and provincial providers know how to put up a cell tower and wireless broadband site for “$40,000, not $400,000.”
Where Rural Broadband Initiative contract holders Chorus and Vodafone tend to follow the corporate rulebook, small providers often use community relationships to slash costs. A farmer might give consent for a transmission tower on his land in exchange for free or cutprice broadband, for example. Cockies are also often roped in for basic maintenance like swapping out a duff battery, Mr O’Connell says.
But while they know how to cut costs, they tend to be naive about the political elbow wrestling involved in snagging broadband funding.
“They need to learn how to play the Wellington game,” Mr O'Connell says.
