Fibre Debate: UFB – Where Will The Regions Grow?

The Government's Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) initiative sure is creating plenty of debate – and long may it continue. But not too long! What most of us really want is to see is the physical implementation of the fibre build. Here's hoping that is underway by the end of the year.

It seems to me the Government is clear on two objectives for this UFB initiative – what it wants is efficient (fibre) infrastructure and economic growth.

Now before the sceptics step in and proclaim this is some kind of a pipedream that is years away… and that there is nothing wrong with the broadband we have, consider this.

We only have to reflect back on the past decade to see what a truly demonstrable transformational impact the Internet has had on our lives across the spectrum of business, leisure and societal contexts. Ten years ago, Google was just starting out – now it's a verb!

Fibre, and the speeds and performance that it will open up, will accelerate this already dramatic impact bringing New Zealand closer to the global digital marketplace that we must increasingly access to maintain, much less improve, our economic performance and living standards. Fibre-based broadband is future proofing New Zealand's communications fabric and connecting us to the world to put us on the same playing field.

So I think now is the time to remain bold and future-focused. Planning and action to drive this nationwide infrastructure refresh must proceed apace. But we also need to start seriously considering how we will leverage the new capability to deliver the economic gains we all aspire to.

Last year, much of the commentary surrounding the UFB initiative made reference to health services, schools and businesses as priority broadband users. But there appears to have only been minimal talk about a watershed report released in August.

'Meeting the Challenge' was commissioned by Health Minister Tony Ryall only three months after National ousted Labour in an election landslide.

The Ministerial Review Group (MRG), formed under the chairmanship of Treasury pragmatist Murray Horn, was to take a critical look at opportunities to more sustainably deliver better health outcomes to New Zealanders. 170 recommendations later we had a flavour on how to reduce bureaucracy, improve frontline health services, and improve value in the public health and disability sector.

I've publically stated many times that there is a need to be smart about how we do things in this country. And I've also made mention on the public management system – essentially the framework within which our public sector is organised and managed - and its tendency to encourage inefficient silo'd behaviour.

The health sector has been a classic case in point. Twenty-one DHBs with separate reporting lines to the Minister and a policy engine (MoH) seemingly with little real ability to influence the behaviour of the sector at large – though expect some changes under this Government!

One of the headline structural recommendations of the report was "Creating a new Crown Entity to provide shared services to DHBs and reduce the cost of common 'back office' functions so that more resources can be shifted to the front-line".

One of the "shared services" that international precedent would indicate should be high on the pick-list would be telecommunications. Indeed, as a sector, the opportunities inherent in a ubiquitous connectedness fabric are enormous. And I'm not talking about the nickel-and-dime procurement-related savings that would inevitably be a happy by-product of shared networks.

The Ministry has stated there should be a key focus on enabling connectivity to New Zealand's 12,500 health service providers and empowering the thousands of health workers employed in the sector by improving the capability to collaborate and share information. And the Ministry wants this to be based on a true demand aggregation model across the entire sector that should lead to best priced connectivity without significant management overhead and provide benefits for both public and private health providers.

While I expect to cop some flak from the current providers of networking services to health sector organisations, my sense is that the fragmentation of that supply market is a key factor that has so far stymied attempts to really get to grips with a "connected health sector". That and, of course, the simple fact of the inadequate infrastructure.

All of which is where the UFB initiative has some synergies worth considering – particularly with the global trend towards e-health.

The UFB initiative and the resultant ultra-fast fibre broadband networks that will begin to criss-cross the country will change the face of telecommunications network provision, altering the quality and reach of New Zealand's infrastructure capability. So the opportunity exists to start deliberately focusing with confidence on the significant preparatory work that will need to be done to ready the sector, not just the big hospitals, to begin to use the new connectivity capability and speeds as it comes on-stream.

It is a prime opportunity for investors in the new infrastructure to be proactive and look to start working with sector agencies.

And the formation of the National Health Board (NHB) to deliver 'national' services (removing them from the silo'd world of MoH and the DHBs) means one of the other major inhibitors of progress towards a more efficient system delivering better patient outcomes looks set to be addressed. Sensibly, the MRG's report also recommends that a common, safe, transferable patient record be implemented within a reasonable time period.

The opportunity afforded by the UFB initiative to make a substantive change that will positively impact on all New Zealanders goes beyond the health sector.

Education standards and opportunities must surely benefit as ultra-fast fibre connectivity is delivered around the country. Ultimately, with the ongoing support of the Ministry of Education, a national education network (NEN) will be developed.

This will no doubt leverage models like the North Shore Education Access Loop (NEAL) where Vector has headed the charge.

The likes of CityLink, Unison, Network Tasman and the Hamilton's Velocity Networks have already taken fibre to schools, and similar plans are afoot with Electricity Ashburton, Flute Network in the southern reaches of the South Island – plus a few other members of the New Zealand Regional Fibre Group (NZRFG).

Perhaps one of the most active in the education space right now is Christchurch's Enable Networks. It began connecting local schools on December 23 and by April 10, 30 of them will be on 1Gbit/s symmetrical connections. Another 30 will follow. And in case you are wondering, the local tertiary institutes and universities have already benefitted from Enable's fibre connectivity.

Nationally these NZRFG initiatives are benefitting well over 100 schools (primary and secondary) and providing tens of thousands of young New Zealanders with far greater broadband connectivity which means greatly enhanced learning opportunities through ready, affordable access to information and ideas from around the globe.

The UFB initiative will deliver one of the key enablers that will bring these islands of capability together into a future-focused national asset.

The fibre operators who have been driving these initiatives have largely flown under the radar until relatively recently. However they are pushing on with fibre builds as we speak. But there is no doubt that a major cash boost from the Government would dramatically increase the spread of fibre around the regions.

In recent times I've worked closely with a handful of NZRFG members – many with existing fibre networks that extend beyond schools. They're basing these networks on sound business cases, while using their existing infrastructure to make it happen efficiently and quickly.

Many of the NZRFG members have lodged submissions under the UFB initiative, seeking to co-invest with Government to rollout infrastructure across their regions. Some will no doubt look at the rural fund also.

They openly talk of delivering capability exceeding the Government's specified minimum standards of 100mbps to 75% of the population across 33 population centres. Indeed, some within the group are already heading fibre in the direction of centres, such as Dargaville, not highlighted as priority areas by the Government. They say more are to come because it fits their network structure and because these areas need fibre sooner rather than later.

The blend of community and commercial imperatives of these community-owned lines and fibre companies positions them uniquely to meet the twofold challenge of efficient infrastructure and economic growth.

The question is, how far past the incumbent will the Government be bold enough to look?

Over the past couple of years, we've been helping people out in the regions to work out just how they're going to leverage this much improved broadband capability that is heading our way, along with a raft of other "digital" (or ICT-related) enablers set to benefit us all, fuelling the economic growth that is the real objective of government's UFB initiative.

I guess you could label it "Digital Strategy".

The approach we've taken is to help regions, districts or cities to first identify their differentiating attributes – the things that make them intrinsically strong – and working out how to enhance, leverage and accentuate these strengths to drive economic growth and create opportunities.

Regionally, New Zealand is incredibly diverse and there is immense value in having those who understand the array of challenges and opportunities within our landscape and 'community-scape', play a leading role in guiding New Zealand's most critical infrastructural and economic build of this century.

From where I sit, the NZRFG case is a pretty sound one.

About The Vector Fibre Debate

The Government plans to give New Zealand a complete fibre to the door ultra-fast broadband network. Vector thinks that's a great idea and is hoping to help them do it and Scoop.co.nz also thinks its something well worth discussing. To have your say in The Vector Fibre Debate see… http://www.fibretothedoor.co.nz/

ENDS

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