My Account
Rural Women NZ has welcomed an announcement that the Government will spend an extra $270 million on improving rural broadband and bridging cellphone blackspots.
Once completed, ultra fast broadband (UFB) will be available to 87 per cent of the population and 99 per cent will have access to high speed internet by 2022.
Rural Women national president Fiona Gower says the benefits of extra spending to expand connectivity for rural communities are immense.
“The services will lead to greater economic growth and better access to online education, social services and health information,” Ms Gower says.
“Rural residents will feel safer with better mobile coverage, and the connectivity will reduce the feeling of isolation for those living in remote areas.”
While the majority of the rollout contract has been won by Chorus and a joint venture between Spark, Vodafone and 2 Degrees, smaller wireless internet providers (WISPs) will receive work worth $13 million.
“Rural Women is pleased to see that WISPs will receive more funding because this means they can offer connectivity in remote rural areas, which currently have no broadband or mobile services.”
