The Broadband Project

Connecting Auckland - A Priority for the Auckland Economic Development Forum

The Auckland Regional Economic Development Forum is committed to fast tracking high speed and accessible broadband across the Auckland region as part of the Metro Project Action Plan.
This action is championed by Forum member and leader of the Broadband Strategic Framework, Mr Ross Peat. The Broadband Strategic Framework supports the government's aspirations to place New Zealand in the top half of the OECD for broadband services by 2012 and is committed to:

• delivering broadband penetration of at least 75% penetration (i.e. usage cf. availability) with top quartile OECD broadband performance to targeted market segments
• creating a strategic broadband framework across Auckland region
• creating and building an economically sustainable broadband infrastructure model that delivers an open network access capability as a foundation for a rich set of commercial network management services and business and consumer applications
• intersecting with national and international broadband projects and networks as appropriate
• sharing best practices and programs with other NZ cities/regions
• benchmarking internationally with best practice Digital City initiatives.

The Forum has made a submission with the Ministry of Economic Development on Telecom's Draft Separation Proposal. The proposal will directly impact the future of broadband infrastructure for the region and New Zealand in the foreseeable future.
Whilst the Forum views Telecom's draft proposal as constructive and a much welcomed move in the right direction, it questions the proposals capacity to deliver the step change that is required if national and regional aspirations for connecting Auckland are to be met.

The Forum has submitted its views regarding:

• Telecom's continued commitment to ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) infrastructure. Research suggests that that the proposed 20mbit/sec will not secure New Zealand's place in the top half of the OECD by 2011
• an ADSL based service does not support the symmetry required for businesses engaging in the knowledge economy and may not prove effective in increasing broadband speed
• and finally, it is not clear whether the Telecom announcement of a $1.4 billion investment in fibre is additional to normal capital works or inclusive of them.

A fast and accessible broadband service is essential to the Economic Transformation of Auckland and New Zealand. The opportunity cost of not achieving a high speed and accessible broadband is estimated by the New Zealand Institute to be up to $4 billion a year for the New Zealand economy. A full copy of the Forum's submission can be accessed here.

A Regional Voice on Broadband

The ‘Auckland Broadband Initiative" is a whitepaper that has been developed by the Auckland Regional Broadband Advisory (ARBA) representing local government in Auckland.

The whitepaper has been designed to reflect and support the intent of objective 2.2 of the Metro Project Action Plan:

"to deliver on energy and broadband infrastructure requirements".

The whitepaper highlights the prerequisites for fast, ubiquitous regional broadband and is a call for action to central, regional and local broadband stakeholders.

The whitepaper has been endorsed by the Auckland Regional Economic Development Forum.