June 22, 2024 3:00pm by David Farrar

The NZ fibre success story

Three years.

$42.5 billion.

And not a single home or business has been connected to new broadband networks (and no project will break ground until next year).

Why didn’t we just mail people Starlink terminals? pic.twitter.com/wL0ceMiGq8
— Alec Stapp (@AlecStapp) June 19, 2024

Reading this had me reflecting on how fortunate we were to have great governance and direction of NZ’s fibre to the home project led by Steven Joyce and Amy Adams. By having a clear goal, setting up a dedicate entity, using the private sector and competitive tenders we got 80% of NZ homes having access to fibre to the home. The net cost to taxpayers was under $1 billion and delivery occurred on schedule.

By comparison the Australian NBN rollout which was merely fibre to the cabinet cost over $50 billion and was constantly delayed and over budget.

And the US rural Internet project has connected not one home in three years (their version of Auckland Light Rail!).

It is a good reminder of how important it is to get the policy and governance right. Implementation matters.