Vodafone GM of networks Tony Baird today said his company's bid for the government's $300 million rural broadband initiative (RBI) had a strong wireless focus.Along with an un-named partner, Vodafone would lay fibre to rural schools, as required by the te
Vodafone GM of networks Tony Baird today said his company’s bid for the government’s $300 million rural broadband initiative (RBI) had a strong wireless focus.
Along with an un-named partner, Vodafone would lay fibre to rural schools, as required by the tender.
But en route to each school, the fibre would spur to a cell tower prepped to be ready for LTE (so-called 4G) mobile broadband technology, due to appear around Vodafone’s network in 2014.
Additionally, rural homes covered by the tender would be equipped with “yagi” antennas, which boost cellular reception.
Mr Baird said this arrangement would allow rural customers to receive the 5Mbit/s minimum speed mandated by the tender.
Vodafone formally allied with Canada’s Axia NetMedia, an erstwhile contender for the government’s $1.35 billion, urban-focused ultrafast broadband (UFB) project.
Communications minister Steven Joyce has listed Axia as one of the contenders for the rural initiative.
However, Mr Baird would not comment on the identity of Vodafone’s partner.
Although the urban UFB project could see multiple bidders awarded multiple regions, the government recently changed the rural broadband tender rules, saying it would consider national bids only - effectively narrowing the competition to Telecom, Axia NetMedia (if it's still in the running) and Vodafone.
However, the Regional Fibre Group said it still saw potential for a cooperative bid.
The RBI - a contestable fund that replaces the old TSO fund that used to go directly to Telecom, to subsidise it for covering so-called "commercially non-viable" rural customers - aims to ensure 93% of rural schools are connected to fibre, enabling speeds of at least 100Mbit/s, with the remaining 7% achieving speeds of at least 10Mbps.
Under the RBI, more than 80% of rural businesses and households will have access to broadband with speeds of at least 5Mbit/s, the government promises, with the remainder a not-so-flash 1Mbit/s.
While the UFB is being decided by Crown Fibre Holdings, the single rural winner will arrive via a Ministry of Economic Development (MED) recommendation.
Bidders must respond to the government's RFP by November 12.
