RFG reveals rural rival bid to Telecom-Vodafone alliance

UPDATED: The joint Telecom/Vodafone bid for the Rural Broadband Initiative announced today is no surprise, according to the man leading a rival bid.

Hours after the joint bid by the telcos was announced, the New Zealand Regional Fibre Group announced its own bid for the $300 million project.

NZRFG chief executive Vaughan Baker told the NBR he wasn't surprised by the joint bid, saying it has been known in the industry for some time that they would team up. 

And he said the government's recent rule change, which required national rather than regional bids for the RBI, had actually helped the NZRFG with its own bid.

"We welcomed the opportunity to submit a national bid because it gave us the opportunity to act as one.

"I must say it has been surprisingly straightforward coordinating the group and getting them to act as one."

Asked if the NZRFG would be working with Kordia and/or FX Networks, he said, "We are working and continuing in discussions with multiple partners including those two you mentioned."

Mr Vaughan said fibre is a better option for rural broadband than a wireless-based option, although he acknowledged wireless would be "absolutely necessary" as part of a rural broadband roll-out.

"It's obvious that fibre is going to be in the ground for a long time - it has the potential to be a 100-year asset."

He also denied bringing fibre to people out in the wop wops would be a more expensive option. 

"We think our proposal matches up very well on a cost effective measure."

The government's $300 million rural broadband tender has come down to a race between an alliance of lines companies, and an alliance of phone companies.

The New Zealand Regional Fibre Group RFG has confirmed it is still in the running for the Rural Broadband Initiative, making its submission to the Ministry of Economic Development today. 

The government’s recent rule change, where it required any RBI bids to be submitted nationally, was thought by some to have knocked the 19-company NZRFG out of the running.

NZRFG chief executive Vaughan Baker said the group will provide network speeds of up to 1Gbps to rural schools – considerably faster than the government’s 100Mbps.

He also promised speedy broadband for farmers, connecting rural households and businesses directly to fibre with 100Mbps network speeds.

“5Mbps just isn’t good enough for such a core sector of the New Zealand economy and one that contributes so heavily to our GDP earnings annually. Our proposal is about truly enabling New Zealanders.

Mr Baker said the group’s proposal would eliminate the digital divide between rural and urban New Zealand by taking an open access fibre network as far into the rural heartland as possible with the MED’s available funds.

“We firmly believe, and our members are proving it is possible with their existing fibre networks, that if minimum broadband speeds of 100Mbps are possible in urban New Zealand then this can extend deep into the rural sector.”

He had a crack at his telco competitors for the RBI, warning that a completely wireless or mobile solution for the RBI would mean rural New Zealand would “miss out” on the broadband infrastructure they deserve.