Broadband Access Issues

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The New Zealand government’s ultra-fast broadband programme has made fibre nearly ubiquitous in the country. So much so that, as of 2021, 94% of New Zealanders use the internet, according to Statista. 

Despite that impressive statistic, many citizens grapple with broadband access issues, while the factors responsible for them are as plentiful as the broadband providers in the country. 

This article examines those factors after reflecting on the Government's broadband initiative. Additionally, it reveals two side effects borne from the government’s rollout, and attempts to offer possible solutions that could help.

New Zealand Government Fibre Broadband Rollout

To understand the issues related to broadband access, we need to start at the beginning.

In 2008, the National Party campaigned on the promise of rolling out an Ultra-fast Broadband Initiative. 

The program was scheduled to be completed at the end of 2022 and aimed to make fibre broadband available to 75% of the population by 2019 (including rural communities and underserved communities). That initial goal was expanded in 2017 to make fibre accessible to 87% of New Zealanders.

Meanwhile, the initiative aimed to provide speeds of at least 100 Mbps and 50 Mbps upload and download speeds respectively.

New Zealand's government earmarked over a billion NZ Dollars as the investment amount and planned to partner with local fibre companies to facilitate the nationwide rollout of the broadband infrastructure.

Through the crown-owned company Crown Fibre Holdings Limited, the government partnered with four fibre companies:

• Chorus
• Enable Networks
• Northpower Fibre; and
• Ultra Fast Fibre

The Crown owns stakes in all four and shares ownership with local governments or electrical companies. Chorus, a spin-off of the Telecom company Spark, got the lion's share of the rollout area, followed by Enable Networks, Ultrafast Fibre, and, finally, Northpower Fibre. 

Originally beginning with larger cities and densely populated areas, the programme later expanded into rural areas and remote locales. New Zealand’s government reached its goal for the original initiative in 2019, after bringing fibre to 33 areas that collectively house 75% of New Zealand residents. 

Part two of the initiative (UFB2) began in early 2017 and aimed to roll out fibre broadband in 150 towns, expanding coverage to 85% of the population. Finally, in mid-2017, it was proposed that UFB2+ would provide fibre broadband to 190 additional towns by 2024, rounding out the remaining 2% of the original 87% coverage goal.

The Broadband Access Drive’s Guiding Principles

According to this post on the Controller and Auditor-General of Tumuaki o te Mana Arotake website, the government followed six guiding principles when rolling out its initiative, namely that the UFB should:

• Make a significant contribution to economic growth;
• Neither discourage nor substitute for private sector investment;
• Avoid entrenching the position, or "lining the pockets", of existing broadband network providers;
• Avoid excessive infrastructure duplication;
• Focus on building new infrastructure, rather than on preserving existing "legacy assets"; and
• Ensure that broadband services are affordable.

Thanks to the above principles, industries that rely on fast internet (e.g., telehealth services and remote learning) can thrive. In addition, through the government’s Rural Broadband Initiative, select rural areas can get broadband coverage.

On the 14th of December 2022, the government reached its goal. The Minister for Digital Economy and Communications, David Clark, stated: 

“Over 1.8 million homes across 412 cities and towns now have access to world-class connectivity.” 

He went on to add that: 

“Fast, reliable connectivity has been especially crucial in recent years as it enabled us to learn, earn and socialise online when we weren’t able to leave our homes. It meant we could check in with doctors, and run our businesses – it allowed us to stay connected with our friends and whānau.”

Does Everyone Have Access?

As comprehensive as the programme is, there are still many areas in the country that don’t have broadband. For example, the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment states on its website that:

“It is not cost-effective to provide UFB in every rural community. Instead, the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) is providing faster internet to hundreds of thousands of rural homes and businesses outside UFB areas.”

Crown Infrastructure Partners offers a similar explanation. The company is charged with “managing the Government’s $1.7 billion investment in Ultra-Fast Broadband” and “rolling out rural broadband and mobile coverage under the Rural Broadband Initiative phase two.”  It writes on its website:

“Fibre is a service best suited to higher-density areas and is less cost-effective when there are long leads between properties or long driveways. Fibre areas were determined by commercial negotiations, and population size and density were key considerations in determining the towns and areas that were included in the UFB programme.

The UFB programme was allocated a set amount of funding and CIP sought to gain the maximum coverage with this. However, it is not enough to cover every household and business that currently cannot access fibre.”

If you want to make sure your area doesn’t fall within this category, use our fibre checker to confirm availability.

Reasons Behind a Lack of Access to Broadband in New Zealand

Despite Federal Government efforts to expand broadband access across the country, not everyone has high-speed internet. The Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) identified the following reasons for some people's lack of broadband internet access in a 2020 Spotlight report. They include:

1. No Computer or Internet Access: Believe it or not, there are households in New Zealand without an internet connection. A 2018 census found that 14% of the households that participated didn't have access to a traditional internet or fibre broadband service. Meanwhile, the CAB has found that many of its clients don’t own a computer. The closest these people have to a digital device is a mobile phone.
2. Low Digital Literacy: Another reason some New Zealanders lack broadband is that they don't have the digital literacy skills to use it in the first place. Some of them lack the confidence or motivation to access the internet due to not having the know-how to do basic tasks like opening a new browser tab or checking their email. As a result, they don't see the need to get an internet service, let alone a broadband connection. And in the rare instances that they come online, they’re unable to do it without assistance.
3. Issues with Basic Literacy: The CAB found that the people among its clients who were illiterate or who weren't confident about their reading, writing, or comprehension skills were less likely to use the internet. It doesn't matter whether these people have access to an internet connection or a computer. Without general literacy skills, it was more challenging to find the motivation to go online.
4. Disability: Disabled New Zealanders grapple with different hurdles that make accessing the internet more challenging than it should be. Many struggle with a range of issues, including poor vision, hearing, concentration, dexterity, and so on. Thus, even when the willingness to come online is there, the above issues impede their efforts.
5. Language Barriers: Language plays a role in keeping some people from enjoying super-fast broadband speeds. In particular, some CAB clients lacked confidence in their English language skills. This confidence gap causes them to experience anxiety regarding whether they understand the information they read online. The CAB also discovered that the anxiety this group of people felt was especially prevalent when interacting with a government agency's online resources. 
6. Financial Barriers: Some New Zealander's lack of access to broadband boils down to a lack of financial resources. They may not be able to afford a laptop, personal computer, or other internet-connected device. In other cases, the cost of internet data keeps them offline.  Notably, the cost of living in New Zealand has a role to play in these peoples’ digital exclusion.
7. No Desire to Be Online: Finally, some people aren’t willing to access the internet. According to the CAB, the possible causes include a lack of motivation, an unwillingness to learn new skills, or the belief that the energy put in would be better channelled elsewhere. In addition, some people have more pressing issues on their minds, like locating affordable housing or putting food on the table. And other people's reluctance may be due to a distrust of computers and, more broadly, technology.

The above shows that there are multiple factors that impede broadband access in the country, each one hampering the government’s UFB drive.

Effects of Lack of Access: Digital Exclusion and the Digital Divide 

Two of the most prominent side effects that arose from internet access issues are digital exclusion and a widening of the digital divide.

In its 2022 report, the CAB defines digital exclusion as "situations where people face barriers to participating fully in society because of information and services being online." The report follows that definition by stating:

“This can mean they experience difficulties accessing the information or services they need, come up against obstacles when trying to act on their rights or fulfil their obligations, or encounter challenges in being able to navigate processes and systems to get the outcomes they want...

Meanwhile, Stanford University defines the digital divide as “the growing gap between the underprivileged members of society, especially the poor, rural, elderly, and handicapped portion of the population who do not have access to computers or the internet; and the wealthy, middle-class, and young Americans living in urban and suburban areas who have access.”

The above two definitions reveal that the positive effects of the government's push to provide internet access for all won’t be universally felt. While internet service providers and a large section of the population have benefited from the UFB Initiative, a minority of New Zealanders may suffer for it.

Digital exclusion led the CAB to make a petition titled “Petition of Citizens Advice Bureau New Zealand: Leave no-one behind - Campaign to address digital exclusion.” 

In its petition, the organisation requested that the Parliament “address and provide for people facing barriers when engaging with information and services online.”

Additionally, the petition suggested that the House of Representatives should:

• Urge the Government to ensure public services are people-centred and accessible; 
• Develop an integrated strategy to address barriers to inclusion; 
• Provide increased resourcing for intermediary organisations; 
• Enforce the Web Accessibility Standard.

The Parliament debated this petition on the 28th of July 2022 after setting up a Petition Committee to look it over. 

Related: Internet Outage Checker

Possible Solutions for Access Issues

Stanford University proffers solutions to the digital divide issue that could also rectify broadband access problems. The solutions include:

• Community Access Centres: In America, community access centres provide a means of granting access to computers and the internet to people who otherwise lack them. The New Zealand government could co-opt this idea into its broadband push. It would give the section of the population who can't afford computers a means to access the internet and participate in New Zealand's digital drive.
• Training Technical Staff: Stanford University also recommends that “Communities and schools must train and preserve additional, and more qualified staff, alongside new technologies to promote the best application of resources. In addition to understanding the new technologies, the staff must be able to teach others.”

The above are just two of many possible solutions the government can mull over. No doubt, it has plans in the works that will ensure more of its citizens come online and enjoy the benefit of its fibre programme.

Conclusion

Broadband access is essential and the New Zealand government was right to focus on providing fibre broadband to the majority of the population. However, many people still face issues accessing broadband in the country. Some of the many causes include impediments posed by disabilities, financial barriers, and basic literacy.

To add insult to injury, the initiative may cause the digital divide in the country to widen and many digitally-excluded groups won’t feel the positive effects of the programme. Ultimately, the government will need to put measures in place that ensure no one gets left behind.