While Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka awaits public comments on its ‘National Backbone Network’ proposed to be installed mostly as a fully government owned infrastructure to provide islandwide broadband links, New Zealand Government says it would be a huge waste of taxpayer money to put $1.5 billion into ultra-fast broadband access.
New Zealand’s National Party leader John Key announced the ambitious plan to put broadband into every home and business through fibre cables over the next six years if his party wins the next election. Mr Key said that with the fibre network he wanted, people would be able to use the internet at lightning speed – essential if the country was to increase productivity and remain internationally competitive.
But Communications Minister David Cunliffe saw nothing but problems and trouble.
“It’s back to the future…if this extravagant subsidy is ever rolled out all the good work the Government, industry and business have done in dismantling Telecom’s monopoly position will be lost,” he said.
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Rohan Samarajiva
But Labour lost the election. Interesting that both the Australian and NZ opposition parties rode to power on, among other things, broadband.