Free broadband in Stratford sunk by cable charges

Stratford's daring plan to become the first New Zealand town with free broadband for everyone has fizzled.

The idea, first broached by the council's chief executive Michael Freeman one year ago, was just too expensive for the little Taranaki town.

If it had panned out, the plan would have seen Stratford residents with access to the internet in their own homes as a council-provided service funded by the ratepayer.

Suggested ways to make the plan work had included placing a transmitter on the glockenspiel, using new technology to include rural-dwellers and setting a targeted rate to pay for the scheme.

The Stratford District Council was so keen on the idea it approved a $20,000 feasibility study into the project in August last year.

Mr Freeman, who is also the chairman of technology advocacy group iTaranaki Trust, was charged with carrying out the study.

However, the chief executive said it didn't take long to realise the idea was not going to work because of the extreme cost of paying for information through the fibre optic internet cable to Australia.

"Technically, it would have been easy. But most of the money you pay at home goes to two things – the admin cost and the cable to Australia. And the cost of using that cable is huge," Mr Freeman said. "Unless you limit the access only to New Zealand websites, which means cutting out YouTube, Google and other major sites, you cannot avoid those overseas fees. And they're ridiculously expensive."

Costs of that cable are predicted to fall after a rival cable is installed, but the new cable was confirmed only this week and will not be finished until 2013.

And, Mr Freeman said, a number of other factors apart from cost also contributed to the plan's demise.

Around the same time the council began looking into free internet, the government announced two new funds for broadband, including a $1.5 billion ultrafast fund which will see fibre optic cable laid to individual homes.

The other was a $300 million fund aimed at providing rural homes with wireless internet.

Mr Freeman said there was not much point in his plan, given the government was already doing "good things".

However, whether Stratford will receive funding from either of those two plans is yet to be seen.

It is expected to be linked to the ultra-fast school broadband sometime soon, but it is not known when.

The council had a discussion about tapping into the schools' broadband at its policy and services meeting this week, but no decisions were made.

According to the last census, about 50 per cent of people in urban Stratford had computers in their homes. About 95 per cent of all residents had broadband coverage, but the percentage of people who subscribed was unknown.

- © Fairfax NZ News