Tender out onmobile coverage
Moves are under way to address dozens of mobile ‘‘black spots’’ and provide internet users in some of the country’s worst-served regions with broadband plans that will give them enough data to watch a couple of hours of online HD video each day.
Communications Minister Amy Adams said the tender for the telecommunications upgrades was open and the first contracts should be awarded by June.
The Government originally announced its intention to set up a $50 million ‘‘mobile black spot fund’’ and to spend another $100m on a second leg of the rural broadband initiative, dubbed RBI2, in 2014.
The cost of the projects is being met by an industry levy.
Adams said not all black spots would be eliminated as a result of the $50m fund but others might make the final list.
RBI2 would focus on improving broadband among rural communities where internet speeds are limited to 20 megabits per second, she said.
The number of people who will benefit will depend on the bids for the Government tender. About 28,000 homes, businesses and farms currently can’t get download speeds of more than 5Mbps.
Tender documents state that the RBI2 service will have to be fast enough to let households watch streaming HD video and carry out at least two other online tasks at the same time, such as browsing the web, backing up photos or sending emails.
It will need to include a plan with a monthly data cap of at least 350 gigabytes of data, rising to 750Gb by 2025, but it need not necessarily support uncapped broadband plans.
The documents said a 350Gb cap would be sufficient for customers to watch two hours of streaming HD video content per day, among other downloads.
Work on RBI2 had been delayed while the Government and officials determined the final footprint of the fibre-optic ultrafast broadband (UFB) network.
UFB will be extended from its current coverage target of 75 per cent of the country through a separate initiative called UFB2.
The decision to release a tender for RBI2 suggests the contract for UFB2 is very close to being finalised by government investment vehicle Crown Fibre Holdings (CFH).
UFB2 has a minimum goal of extending UFB to another 5 per cent of the country, taking coverage to 80 per cent of homes and businesses.
CFH is expected to announce before Christmas that network company Chorus has won the contract for UFB2 and that the extra coverage area will be much larger than that – potentially leaving only 10 to 15 per cent of households outside the reach of fibre-to-the-home and in the wider RBI zone.
CFH spokeswoman Anna Verboeket declined to comment, saying negotiations on UFB2 were continuing.
Adams said the mobile black spot and RBI2 projects represented ‘‘a unique opportunity for national and regional providers to partner with the Government to deliver increased connectivity and improved services to rural communities’’.