Former All Black backs down-to-earth rural internet provider
With the COVID-19 lockdown placing even greater emphasis on the need for reliable internet networks, a former All Black is working to keep New Zealand’s rural folk connected.
THE QUICKEST way for farmers to get fast broadband internet is to get out their diggers, says Telecommunications Users Association (TUANZ) chief executive Paul Brislen.
And he’s not joking. “It is expensive to roll out fibre cables and dig trenches– if you are a telco,” Brislen told Rural News. “If you are a farmer with a digger and the farm next door is happy for you to dig a trench across their farm as well, then that’s the best thing that should happen.”
Farmers in Yorkshire, UK, did this after tiring of waiting for telco action. Their project, called Broadband for Rural North (Barn), is for getting fibre to their farms, says Brislen. They are pulling fibre across each farm from neighbour to neighbour and connecting it to a network at the end.
“Generally speaking, they’re doing rather well. It’s quite cheap deployment and it’s happening quickly. British Telecom has the contract to roll out fibre to everybody. It is going to miss all its targets and nobody wants to buy it anyway once they get it deployed.
“So they are having interesting discussion about who you should give the money to build these networks. It turns out the Telcos aren’t very good at building networks.”
Brislen says there’s also a precedent here called the Nelson Loop. Telecom quoted $1 million to run fibre around a part of Nelson, an area of mostly vineyards, so the locals said, “we’ll do it ourselves” far cheaper than that. They have had fibre for about 10 years.
Wireless does not do as well as fibre, Brislen says. “Dollar for dollar you want to be putting fibre down because it can handle a lot more customers and a lot more bandwidth so you can get faster connections and can do a lot more with it. Wireless is good to a point, whereas fibre is getting better and better.”
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.
Holstein Friesian excellence was front and centre at the 2025 Holstein Friesian NZ (HFNZ) Awards, held recently in Invercargill.
The work Fonterra has done with Ballance Agri-Nutrients Ltd, LIC and Ravensdown to save farmers time through better data connections has been recognised with a national award.
OPINION: Dust ups between rural media and PR types aren't unheard of but also aren't common, given part of the…
OPINION: The Hound hears from his canine pals in Southland that an individual's derogatory remarks on social media have left…