Chorus has acknowledged it has a job ahead to win the hearts and minds of rural New Zealanders as it moves to switch off the country’s copper telephone network.
The network provider has long signalled its plans to have the copper voice and broadband network off the air by the end of 2026 in areas where ultrafast broadband alternatives are offered, and completely gone by 2033.
Rising repair costs, lack of spare parts and rapid advances in alternative technologies have all meant the legacy system that has existed for much of the NZ phone network’s life is coming to an end.
The move has already rung alarm bells in some rural areas.
Federated Farmers board member Mark Hooper pointed to a recent Feds survey that highlighted 52% of respondents still have a landline and 17% still rely on the copper network for their internet connection.
He raised the loss of copper as another threat to rural connectivity, citing uncertainty over it being replaced in all areas with fibre.
Anna Mitchell, Chorus’s general manager for its fibre frontier team, said the installation of a national copper network had been something of a nation-building effort, but is one whose time has come.
“We are now at a point where what people need is not a voice line, but the ability to use the internet, over which voice can be one use.”
She acknowledged, however, that there is a growing need for Chorus to better educate rural customers about what their options are to tap into the broadband alternatives now available.
“We do not want people to think they are losing something they have valued.
“We have not yet found a site that cannot be served by an alternative technology. Often this will include the new low orbit satellite technology.”
She said wireless broadband suppliers have also done a good job employing their local knowledge to hook rural users into broadband connectivity.
Ideally fibre optic is the gold standard for connectivity, and Mitchell confirmed Chorus’s efforts to push this out further into rural areas.
“We think there is an opportunity to take fibre further. Back in February we announced a Chorus-funded rollout of another 10,000 homes and businesses for rural or satellite communities around NZ.
“We are really eager to take fibre further but unfortunately the economics of it make it quite challenging, so we are constantly in discussions with government about that opportunity.”
She said as demands on farmers to track and record data grow, greater broadband connectivity is an essential foundation to enable them to achieve that.
She pointed to a joint NZIER-Chorus report that found there was an additional $16.5 billion of income over the next 10 years to be earned if rural connectivity receives a boost to fibre-capable levels.
Cyclone Gabrielle also did much to raise the importance of connectivity, keeping it well in the government and public mind, even more so than electricity connectivity.
However, the evolution of multiple types of technology to access broadband internet also means it has become increasingly difficult to flatten charges and cross-subsidise across the rural-urban boundaries.
“The economic reality is that a lower population density and increased distance mean the options will be either rural users have to pay more, or the government contributes to deliver more equitable access.
“This is a real reason to have a proper debate about it, it is a very real rural community issue.”
In Focus Podcast: Full Show | 10 May
This week we chat with with Katrina Roberts, who is the new Dairy Woman of the Year. She’s a Waikato vet, working with dairy farmers to not only maintain cow health but also improve the efficiency of their farm systems. Katrina also has a background in research and is keen to show aspiring veterinarians that cattle beat cats hands down when it comes to job satisfaction.
Federated Farmers arable chair David Birkett joins us to talk about the arable industry awards, which are open to nominations now. As well as grower of the year awards for maize, cereal and seed there are also special awards recognising teams, environmental endeavours and agronomy.
And, senior reporter Hugh Stringleman wraps up the dairy commodity season for us, following this week’s GDT auction.
