History is in the making in Tararua
The high-speed broadband revolution came to the region yesterday.
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Tararua District Council has taken on the might of Telecom with the launch of its own groundbreaking high-speed broadband connection throughout the district.
Mangamaire Country School, north of Eketahuna, was the first school to hook up to the fibre-optic cabling network yesterday.
The school will act as a hub for the rest of the rural community, with farmers able to drag wire across their farms and connect to the high-speed link.
New Zealand Telecommunications Users Association chief executive Ernie Newman said Tararua's project to bring high-speed internet to isolated rural areas was revolutionary.
"This is surely a day that will go down in the history of New Zealand."
Typically, telecommunications companies miss out rural areas, going straight past farms that aren't on the main route.
But the Tararua council, FX networks and Inspire Net had brought the link to the country, he said.
"There are two people who are not involved - one is Telecom, and the other is the Government. "There is room for small service providers to do really interesting stuff, without the big kid on the block."
The high-speed internet would help teachers provide a better education and farmers run their businesses, he said.
"You are within a millisecond from getting information from all over the world, whether you are in Paris or London or New York or Mangamaire." Mangamaire farmer Ester Romp said broadband would make a huge difference to life on the farm.
People were currently forced to use dial- up or temperamental broadband, which would often only run for 20 minutes a day.
No online banking meant writing cheques for staff - hardly ideal living kilometres out of town - and not being able to access important dairy information quickly, she said.
"If I could have thrown the stupid computer out of the window on several occasions I would have.
"It gets past frustrating, it's really tricky to run a business."
Tararua mayor Maureen Reynolds said farmers were already digging their own trenches to drag the fibre cross-country to their houses.
"It's the classic No. 8 wire approach, but it's hi-tech."
The council has applied to the Government to help pay for the last leg of the broadband project, from Dannevirke to Norsewood.
It's hoped to connect 16 schools and two health centres.
- © Fairfax NZ News
