“New Zealand Will Simply ‘Get Killed'” Unless Crappy Broadband Situation Improves
June 4th, 2008Our Telecom post goes underwater during strong rain storms. A few storms ago, the cover was off that post, washed away by the raging river that overflowed its banks. Of course, all we had on the line was crackling, popping static. I looked at the post and all the copper was soaked, muddy, with bits of leaves and grass tangled up. When the Telecom repair guy came out, I told him about the post. He chuckled. He showed me the back of the van where he carried several plastic covers… just like the one that washed away.
So, if Mr. Semmoto thinks ChCh is slow, he should wander up this way where he could check out my 256kb/sec satellite connection with 800ms to 2000ms hops. Three gigabytes, metered, costs about US$94 per month. (Translation: Slow and unthinkably expensive by developed world standards.) I’m not complaining. I’m very lucky to have this connection! Most of my neighbors couldn’t get this service, even if they wanted it. For them, hills block the line of site view of the IPSTAR satellite to the west.
Via: New Zealand Herald:
Outspoken Japanese telecoms entrepreneur Sachio Semmoto does not confine his feisty criticism of out-dated broadband platforms to his home country.
In Tokyo recently, Semmoto revealed he had advised Prime Minister Helen Clark three years ago that New Zealand’s broadband service was “pitiful”.
The PM had apparently praised previous Telecom chief executive Theresa Gattung’s performance, but Semmoto’s contention was that any CEO who did not ensure the nation’s broadband infrastructure was fast enough and with sufficient bandwidth to enable New Zealand’s high-tech industry to carry out business from here should not be in the job.
He advised Helen Clark that the Government needed to do something about Telecom by introducing competition, and as Gattung moved on, he got in touch with Paul Reynolds, whose performance he had admired at BT, and strongly pushed him to take on the job.
Semmoto praises Communications Minister David Cunliffe for tackling Telecom. “It had to be done”.
But he’s critical of the Government’s recent Budget announcements: The $340 million Digital Pathway Fund will still not be sufficient to fast forward the switch in emphasis needed to get New Zealand on to a better broadband platform, he says. Its focus on fibre – when many advanced societies are switching to greater use of mobile technologies – needs to be balanced.
New Zealand will simply “get killed” if it does not tackle such issues swiftly and build a speedy information highway to connect to nations with which it wants to do business.
Semmoto also delivered the latter message to the recent Japan New Zealand Partnership Forum where he urged New Zealand businesses to lift the level of their ambition. To be more like Finland with its focus on hi-tech innovations and to be “more independent” and take less notice of the gap with Australia.
“Your young people should want to build great companies from New Zealand – not go overseas.”
Ha! I’m just trying to set up a broadband connection at our new place – which is in a town with ADSL access and the whole thing is driving me nuts. It’s like the companies have got together and agreed to make everything as awkward as possible. A friend is trying to do the same thing at the moment and having the same experience.
It’s either that or else they’ve decided that all they have to do is have better service than Telecom and that’ll do – so instead of being atrocious they’re merely very bad. Telecom’s policy always seems to be; deny everything and blame the customer. I miss the days when I was with a local ISP and I knew the boss – it’s the last time anyone made any sense but because of the way Telecom ‘owns’ telecommunications in this country he gave up delivering broadband a year ago (before it put him out of business).
Anyway, enough of my moaning, I really just wanted to add my agreement.