Broadband package looks very good

My initial reaction to the Government’s announcement (based on their press release) looks to be very good. Maybe even excellent. I believe David Cunliffe and his team have done a pretty damn good job.

Looking at the submission from InternetNZ, I think there is a near 100% uptake of our proposals which is great. We asked for:

* A revised UBS offering (done)
* local loop unbundling (done)
* An investigation of wholesale/retail seperation for Telecom. This is still being explored but very pleased it is a live option and not dismissed as too hard. This is in fact the more important in the medium term than the other steps
* An additional $60m be allocated to the Broadband Challenge fund (extra funding agreed, unsure how much)
* a review of public sector investment in telecommunications (agreed)
* a review of wireless spectrum management (not listed but not a time critical issue to decide today)
* appointment of a fibre to the home task force (not listed, but logical to consider down the track after review of current state sector capability)

Some of the additional stuff such as limiting the ability for the incumbent to reduce local prices solely in response to new competing infrastructure investment looks very useful also. Long term we want infrastructure competition, and this will help.

I am definitely pleased.