InternetNZ, Federated Farmers and TUANZ have written to the chairman of Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee, Craig Foss, proposing major changes to the Telecommunications Amendment Bill.
InspireNet founder James Watts, who has built a rural fibre network in the Manawatu and Tararua districts, questions whether the government may force all schools – even those already connected to fibre — onto the Rural Broadband Initiative.
Federated Farmers hosted a meeting today on rural broadband solutions, but their guests of honour – Telecom and Vodafone — failed to show up.
Federated Farmers and NAIT (National Animal Identification and Training) are at loggerheads over the National Animal Identification and Tracing Bill, which had its first reading this week.
Further announcements as to what companies will partner the government in the Ultra Fast Broadband network are now overdue. To date prospective partners in three regions – Timaru, central North Island and Whangarei - have been identified, but negotiations have not (as far as we know) been completed.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has issued a notice of intended procurement for the design, development, integration, testing and support of the National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) project.
It was time to speak frankly this morning as Federated Farmers' vice president and telecommunications spokesman, Donald Aubrey, gave a thumbs down to the government's funding plan for rural connectivity.
The fundamental change in the rural economy made possible by e-commerce is reliant on efficient communications technology that is unaffected by distance and interference, says Federated Farmers.