Telecom has trumped last year's spend-up on the rural sector with a slightly higher level of investment this year.
Telecom has announced it will be spending $59 million on the rural sector's communications network — up from the $58 million announced at last year's Fieldays agricultural extravaganza held in Hamilton.
This year the money will go on improving mobile coverage, extending the reach of Telecom's DSL network into more rural areas and increasing the backhaul capacity of the network.
Telecom also announced the launch of Farmside RMS, a service developed by independent ISP BayCity to allow farmers to gather, share and integrate critical farm data in near-real time. Farmside RMS operates over Telecom's cellphone network as well as over broadband.