Coromandel Peninsula poised to benefit from extended Rural Broadband Initiative

Our District is ready to take advantage of the just-announced next phase of the Government's Rural Broadband Initiative. The announcement from Communications Minister Amy Adams includes funding to boost broadband speeds in rural areas and to extend mobile coverage to black spots on State Highways and in tourist areas.

The Government wants network operators (eg, Spark, Vodafone, 2degrees etc) to submit proposals on how they would partner with the Government to provide faster broadband in rural areas and provide coverage for these black spots.
"I'm really pleased to hear the Government's announcement that they are expanding this valuable programme," says our Mayor, Sandra Goudie. "Many businesses that are located outside our main town centres, including people who operate home-based businesses, rely on the internet. Faster rural broadband will benefit them and the whole District."

Digital technologies are driving economic growth and they rely on the internet for communications, that's why our Council is partnering with the Government and telecommunications companies to improve broadband speeds across the Coromandel as part of our economic development programme.

Last year our Council put in a bid for the latest ultra-fast broadband (UFB) funding after the Government announced a $360 million extension of its programmes to improve broadband coverage around the country. We put in a detailed bid seeking the roll-out of fibre to the Coromandel's main population centres and in September 2015 Thames, Whitianga, Whangamata, Coromandel Town and Tairua-Pauanui were included in the Government's list of 110 towns in New Zealand that could potentially qualify for funding for ultra-fast fibre. A Government decision on its new UFB programme is expected shortly.

The work that went into that bid helped us identify rural areas that would benefit from faster rural broadband and areas that currently receive no mobile network coverage.

Ms Adams' announced yesterday that the Government was putting $150 million into its extension of the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI).

“My aim is to provide high-speed broadband to the greatest number of under-served rural New Zealanders within the funding available, and give regional communities access to high-speed broadband. We also want to improve the reach of mobile services to support safety on State Highways and enhance the visitor experience for tourists,” Ms Adams says.

Under the RBI extension, the following areas in the Coromandel have been identified on the Government's long-list for rural broadband - Papa Aroha, Port Charles, Fletchers Bay, and the Coromandel Coastal Walkway.

Council will also be making a submission to the Minister's list to advocate for several other areas such as Hot Water Beach, which have high tourist numbers but poor cellphone and data coverage.

The Government's criteria states that over time they aim to provide improved broadband to communities unable to access broadband speeds of at least 20 Megabits per second.

The Mobile Black Spot Fund will improve the availability of mobile services to areas which do not have coverage from any mobile operator. The main Coromandel area on the Government's mobile black spot list is the Kopu-Hikuai Rd (SH25A), which has very poor mobile coverage that can cause problems in emergencies.
The Government cautions that inclusion on this list doesn't mean these areas will see work as a result of the RBI extension. Also other areas that are not on the list may end up benefitting from the programme.

See the Government's full black spot list here.
For more on what our Council has been doing to leverage the Government's broadband programmes, see our web page www.tcdc.govt.nz/rbi

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