Synopsis
Despite the economic crisis, telecoms remains a vibrant industry with lots of opportunities for competition and innovation. Functional separation has happened in New Zealand, at an opportune time, as this will allow the new government to use its new telecoms environment to stimulate growth in the national economy. It is critical for the wellbeing of the country that Telecom starts playing more of a leadership role. Also without government leadership, we won’t see the essential cooperation and collaboration between the various government health, education and energy agencies. Without them a digital economy cannot develop. FttH should only be rolled once a sound national plan is in place that enforces the participation of these agencies in the delivery of services over this new network. Beyond that, other technologies need to be deployed, like wireless broadband and satellite.
