$15m funding for remote broadband

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DarkShadow

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#297414 15-Jun-2022 16:35

$15 million of the Budget-allocated funding will go towards a new initiative called the Remote Users Scheme. This scheme will aim to provide broadband services to New Zealanders in some of the country’s most remote locations – those who right now have no coverage, or only have voice calling and text messaging services.

Work is underway to finalise the details of this new scheme, and it is my intention to launch the Remote Users Scheme later this year.

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-connectivity-funding-more-rural-homes-and-businesses

Is this subsidy for satellite internet?

wellygary

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#2929984 15-Jun-2022 16:54

From what has been described, you would think so...

But I'm expecting a few rounds of "consultation" to chew up some of that money before they conclude they need a bespoke service and then go out for commercial tender... They will include some crazy specs that will rule out using a commercial orbital operation like starlink and will conclude that they will pay money to some WISPs to set up a service that has to use low bandwidth satellite backhaul .... and it will begin operation in 2024 or 2025 ....

DarkShadow

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#3000353 23-Nov-2022 14:29

https://www.crowninfrastructure.govt.nz/rural/rus/

After you register, CIP will try to find a local provider to connect you, or if that's not possible, give you up to $2000 for satellite or other broadband hardware.

hamish225

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#3000354 23-Nov-2022 14:36

Interesting thing I noticed while travelling through France while I lived there was that even in tiny little villages of less than 10 houses, you still had a gpon service. not sure why we can't just get the government to use this money to run the fibre to replace the copper and be done with it.

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DarkShadow

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#3000357 23-Nov-2022 14:44

Probably because it will cost more than $2000

nztim

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TEAMnetwork

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#3000368 23-Nov-2022 16:21

not sure I like the idea of giving people 2K which will be just sent to Mr Elon Musk rather than upgrading our own countries infrastructure

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wellygary

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#3000371 23-Nov-2022 16:27

nztim:

not sure I like the idea of giving people 2K which will be just sent to Mr Elon Musk rather than upgrading our own countries infrastructure

There are always going to be some spots in NZ where is it seriously uneconomic to service with terrestrial services thou,

The question is where does the big red line get drawn... and it would be interesting to see what the calculations are for that..

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nztim

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#3000373 23-Nov-2022 16:30

wellygary:

nztim:

not sure I like the idea of giving people 2K which will be just sent to Mr Elon Musk rather than upgrading our own countries infrastructure

There are always going to be some spots in NZ where is it seriously uneconomic to service with terrestrial services thou,

The question is where does the big red line get drawn... and it would be interesting to see what the calculations are for that..

Appreciate that, but they got Fibre into Haast (population 300) so it can be done chorus are also activity moving their VDSL cabinets in copper shutdown areas out to rural areas

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FineWine

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#3000379 23-Nov-2022 16:45

hamish225:

Interesting thing I noticed while travelling through France while I lived there was that even in tiny little villages of less than 10 houses, you still had a gpon service. not sure why we can't just get the government to use this money to run the fibre to replace the copper and be done with it.

Great point 👍

Why not in these remote areas, villages, small towns, drop in a satellite up & down link on the local geographic high point or trig point and connect it to a gpon network service which then replaces the old pole to pole copper network.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

raytaylor

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#3000912 24-Nov-2022 14:51

hamish225:

Why not in these remote areas, villages, small towns, drop in a satellite up & down link on the local geographic high point or trig point and connect it to a gpon network service which then replaces the old pole to pole copper network.

In france they can justify it because the villages are so close together.

Here in NZ, not a lot of the network is on poles. And directional drilling is $60/metre. Adding new overhead lines is difficult under many district plans.

This project is aimed at locations that are the only user 2kms up a gravel road.

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PolicyGuy

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#3000932 24-Nov-2022 15:47

nztim:

Appreciate that, but they got Fibre into Haast (population 300) so it can be done chorus are also activity moving their VDSL cabinets in copper shutdown areas out to rural areas

The clinching arguments for Haast were

to provide cell phone backhaul - the lack of coverage down there was creating some significant public safety issues; and
because while Haast may have a permanent population of around 300, there are times of the year when there are - at a WAG - ten times as many people there; and
of course, because tourism+Covid+politics

tim0001

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#3000976 24-Nov-2022 16:59

I'll be interested to see where they draw the line for "poor internet". Before I had Starlink, I would have been satisfied with a solid 5Mbps. Now I'd probably say a bit more than that is required:)

Rural broadband has seen much of the low hanging fruit taken by WISPs and RBI2. Its pretty expensive getting to some of the remaining locations.

The Starlink monthly cost is too high for many people to afford. I wonder if some will end up on geo sat instead.

I think CIP may have confused their bits and bytes when they say "remote users who are currently supplied with 4G coverage may find they could get download speeds of up to 100 MBps." (it always triggers me when someone does that...)

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nickb800

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#3000988 24-Nov-2022 17:46

PolicyGuy:
nztim:

Appreciate that, but they got Fibre into Haast (population 300) so it can be done chorus are also activity moving their VDSL cabinets in copper shutdown areas out to rural areas

The clinching arguments for Haast were

to provide cell phone backhaul - the lack of coverage down there was creating some significant public safety issues; and

because while Haast may have a permanent population of around 300, there are times of the year when there are - at a WAG - ten times as many people there; and

of course, because tourism+Covid+politics

And backhaul backup for the whole west coast, by connecting through to Hawea. Suspect it may not have got over the line if it was just a spur to Haast

tim0001

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#3001644 26-Nov-2022 10:49

Ironically, the online RUS application form is preventing people entering some remote locations.

A friend was having difficulty making the application and asked me to have a look. A problem arises if you drop the pin in a location where their mapping system has no record of a post code. You are unable to enter a postcode manually, and unable to move to the 2 page of the application.

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#3001646 26-Nov-2022 11:14

tim0001:

Ironically, the online RUS application form is preventing people entering some remote locations.

I was also morbidly amused to see that a page with two lines of text and two buttons, aimed at people without broadband, is 4.58 MB.

allan

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#3001710 26-Nov-2022 15:04

tim0001:

Ironically, the online RUS application form is preventing people entering some remote locations.

A friend was having difficulty making the application and asked me to have a look. A problem arises if you drop the pin in a location where their mapping system has no record of a post code. You are unable to enter a postcode manually, and unable to move to the 2 page of the application.

That sort of thing used to annoy me intensely when I worked for a bank (who shall remain nameless), who used the NZ Post Postcode database for address validation for mortgage applications - but guess what, NZ Post doesn't deliver to all of the locations people own houses. The internal business unit just couldn't see that there was a gigantic flaw in their process 🙄