2. Introduction
The Ministry of Economic Development (MED) requested a "stock take" of the existing telecommunications infrastructure in New Zealand that has the capability to provide "broadband" services to the small communities and towns.
This report provides a high level view of the existing infrastructure that serves defined service areas - principally the small Provincial towns and the adjoining rural communities. The focus is on "medium speed" data services, suitable for Internet access in the near term. An overview of the applicable technologies, and comment on the capabilities of the major Service Providers is given, along with high level estimates of the demand forecast in a Year 2003 timeframe. Estimates of the proportion of the customer base that would fall into three broad capital investment categories are given. Maps are also provided of the fibre optic cables and high capacity microwave radio systems of the major operators, along with identification of the Rural Towns and Small Urban Towns from the Census data.
This analysis and report was provided in late May/early June 2001.
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