Kim.Com promises free broadband -Pacific Fibre to rise from the ashes?

Forums › New Zealand Broadband › Kim.Com promises free broadband -Pacific Fibre to rise from the ashes?

clinty

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#111460 4-Nov-2012 10:16

Hi,

This slipped out on stuff this mornnig.

What do we think? Is it likely to happen?

www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/7904696/Dotcom-trumpets-free-fibre

Clint

Edit : Fixed URL

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#711651 4-Nov-2012 10:21

"The Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand believes Dotcom could be the money man Morgan needs to revive Pacific Fibre."

Only that the money is not readily available, surely?

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Zeon

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#711652 4-Nov-2012 10:22

Lol he should work in PR. I'm not sure if building a cable to support Datacentres full of pirated content in NZ is positive for the economy or trade relations with other countries (perhaps China lol).

I just laugh when I see Kim.com's outrageous comments/ideas these days.

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sbiddle

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#711653 4-Nov-2012 10:25

Not to mention the US approval that is required to land a cable in the US..

DarthKermit

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#711657 4-Nov-2012 10:49

sbiddle: Not to mention the US approval that is required to land a cable in the US..

Yeah, and I can't see the US govt being too agreeable to any of Dotcom's business ventures.

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mattbush

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#711659 4-Nov-2012 10:51

That guy is awesome...he always seems positive about most things despite being constantly kicked in the teeth. If he can assist in bringing extra investers to Pacific Fibre....that would be great for all kiwi's.

gzt

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#711660 4-Nov-2012 10:54

Free broadband? Well great, but I guess we will have to wait on a plan how exactly. TGTBT? It will have to be supported somehow. NZ$40 per month off every customer with targeted advertising? Really?

Trademe makes that per person. OMG! I get it I get it!

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gzt

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#711674 4-Nov-2012 11:07

But here's the real plan:

"He would provide New Zealand internet service providers such as Telecom and Vodafone with free access for individual customers and charge a fee to business and central government. Kiwis would still be charged a fee by the internet companies, but it would be as low as one-fifth of current bandwidth plans and three to five times faster with no transfer limits"

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10844971

clinty

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#711676 4-Nov-2012 11:26

gzt: But here's the real plan:

"He would provide New Zealand internet service providers such as Telecom and Vodafone with free access for individual customers and charge a fee to business and central government. Kiwis would still be charged a fee by the internet companies, but it would be as low as one-fifth of current bandwidth plans and three to five times faster with no transfer limits"

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10844971

Thanks gzt,

This was in the original stuff article this morning, but seems to have been edited out :)

I liked the bit about how he would fund it - "by suing Hollywood studios and the US Government for their "unlawful and political destruction of my business""

gzt

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#711677 4-Nov-2012 11:38

In fairness on that point the article actually says:

"He added he could fund the project by suing Hollywood studios and the US Government for their "unlawful and political destruction of my business""

Note the 'could'. It is not clear if he was half joking or if that is the sole proposed source of funding. That would take a really long time and appeals from either side so I cannot personally believe that is serious. He clearly had a lot of personal wealth at one time. The key question is does he have access to enough now to make this project viable.

Also if the problems landing this cable were entirely political - will DotCom's involvement really help or hinder that side of things?

Raine

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#711681 4-Nov-2012 11:41

the headline is misleading and it's a huge claim to make without even have spoken to morgan. taints his credibility more.

still ... can't help hoping something good for us could come of this. what are the chances and what kind of time-frames we looking at?

BarTender

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#711686 4-Nov-2012 11:54

I think it's awesome that Kim.com has turned himself from an internet mogul who made a decent amount of coin from running a filelocker. To being an internet philanthropist.

Since we all know Pacific Fibre fell over since the business case didn't stand up since most people with money don't like throwing it away. Obviously Kim.com isn't part of that business savvy folks and is quite happy to chuck away millions of dollars to fund his own lofty ambitions. I suspect like his p lutocrat friends such as Rod Drury or Sam Morgan they havn't actually had to run a real business that builds stuff such as nationwide infrastructure let alone international one. I'm just wondering why with Pacific Fibre that Sam Morgan's dad Gareth who does have a decent understanding of money wasn't throwing his kiwisaver investments behind it... Probably because it didn't stack up.

Lets reasses the facts.

1) 90% of SCCN usage goes to Australia, not NZ.
2) SCCN isn't anywhere near capacity and due to technology upgrades at head ends at to the cable the capacity is due to increase
3) The price of data from AU<->US and NZ<->US is the same
4) There is already multiple international cables in Australia so there is competition there.
5) It was first built in 2000 so has been running for 12 years now, so their investment must be either paid off or close to it
6) Year on year SCCN has been reducing their cost of wholesale capacity, how many other companies do you know that have been doing that for the last 12 years?

Perhaps if only two or three of those factors were taken into account a second cable out of NZ (or more realistically another cable out of AU, which also goes via NZ like SCCN). Then a business case may stack up... Otherwise. It's just throwing money away.

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mattbush

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#711688 4-Nov-2012 11:56

rainelogan21: the headline is misleading and it's a huge claim to make without even have spoken to morgan. taints his credibility more.

still ... can't help hoping something good for us could come of this. what are the chances and what kind of time-frames we looking at?

Very misleading, as Dotcom would only be one of the investors in Pacific Fibre.

Kyanar

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#711692 4-Nov-2012 12:05

BarTender: I'm just wondering why with Pacific Fibre that Sam Morgan's dad Gareth who does have a decent understanding of money wasn't throwing his kiwisaver investments behind it... Probably because it didn't stack up.

Because doing so would likely get him prosecuted? Investing money in a company owned by a family member is a conflict of interest and a fast track to an SFO investigation.

hamish225

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#711706 4-Nov-2012 12:31

Kyanar:
BarTender: I'm just wondering why with Pacific Fibre that Sam Morgan's dad Gareth who does have a decent understanding of money wasn't throwing his kiwisaver investments behind it... Probably because it didn't stack up.

Because doing so would likely get him prosecuted? Investing money in a company owned by a family member is a conflict of interest and a fast track to an SFO investigation.

really? so you can't invest your own money into whatever company you want? that's not exactly fair, i thought we lived in a fair society here! obviously not.

*Insert big spe*dtest result here*

kyhwana2

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#711708 4-Nov-2012 12:41

hamish225:
Kyanar:
BarTender: I'm just wondering why with Pacific Fibre that Sam Morgan's dad Gareth who does have a decent understanding of money wasn't throwing his kiwisaver investments behind it... Probably because it didn't stack up.

Because doing so would likely get him prosecuted? Investing money in a company owned by a family member is a conflict of interest and a fast track to an SFO investigation.

really? so you can't invest your own money into whatever company you want? that's not exactly fair, i thought we lived in a fair society here! obviously not.

This isn't the US, where you can run for president and have your son own the e-voting machines in a battleground state!

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