The New Zealand Government yesterday announced it plans to enforce a three-way operational separation on Telecom as it strives to boost competition in telecommunications and cut prices for consumers.
Communications Minister David Cunliffe said that the Government hoped to increase competition and investment in the sector for the long-term benefit of all New Zealanders. The details of the announcement are broadly in line with plans the Government outlined in April, which mimic the breakup of British Telecom.
Yet what is happening in the UK? On the same day that Cunliffe was making his statement in NZ, the Broadband Stakeholder Group in the UK was saying that,'Labour's dreams of broadband Britain could come to nothing, and the UK's international competitiveness be damaged irreparably, unless Internet access speeds on these shores keep pace with rival economies.' That statement has prompted Ofcom to launch a major consultation on "next-generation web access".
Ofcom, the UK's media and telecoms regulator has noticed that rival economies from South Korea to France already have broadband up to five times faster than the UK top rate of 20 megabits per second.
20 megabits per second? Where does that leave me in Tauranga? I can only dream of 20 megabits per second. NZ has a long way to go to even play catch up with the rest of the developed world in this critical area of key infrastructure development. David Cunliffe's announcement yesterday might have been the start. Believe me, that's all it is. A start.
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