Hon David Cunliffe Minister of Communications

Discussion paper on Broadband Wireless Access

The Ministry of Economic Development has released a discussion paper on spectrum allocation opportunities for Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) for public comment, says Communications Minister David Cunliffe.

This follows the Labour-led government's package of measures to improve New Zealand's broadband performance, following a regulatory stock-take of the telecommunications sector.

"One of the key features of the package is the encouragement of investment in alternative infrastructure, including wireless technologies such as BWA, which provides opportunities for the competitive delivery of broadband," Mr Cunliffe said.

"BWA technologies like WiMAX have the ability to carry a wide range of content in the form of data, music, video and Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol. Most of the services available on wired networks can now be accessed via wireless technologies."

The government wants to maximise opportunities for BWA deployment in New Zealand and this discussion paper identifies spectrum that can be considered for future BWA deployments.

It also considers recent developments in BWA technology and the current allocation of spectrum suitable for its deployment. It seeks the views of industry and other stakeholders on how such spectrum could be allocated in the future.

The paper can be accessed at www.rsm.govt.nz/planning/bwa/

Submissions close on 4 August 2006.

ENDS

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