With the Ureweras in the news at the moment on account of ‘terrorist raids’, it’s interesting to read a post by Ernie Newman of TUANZ about his trip there. He was looking at broadband and its impact on economies and people’s lives:

It’s said that a new teacher arriving in the middle of the Ureweras was gobsmacked to find the broadband speeds better than in town! And a number of these isolated people have already completed university degrees on line.

The real benefits, Riaka explains and others later reinforce, comes when the kids start using computers both at school and at home. The kids then teach their parents computer skills, parents attend school for more formal computer classes, and bingo – parents are suddenly connected and engaged with their kids’ learning.

[Via : TUANZ (Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand).]

And yet, the government declined to provide funding from the Digital Strategy’s Broadband Challenge pool that would connect a very large chunk of the region to broadband.

We have reached a time when broadband Internet access is starting to become as much an essential facility as electricity and water. We need to find ways to ensure that everyone has access to broadband, wherever they are in New Zealand.

By the way: another snippet of particular interest (but the whole post is worth reading):

despite the subsidy of the Kiwi Share a significant and increasing number of the Coasters are foregoing their land lines and relying wholly on cell phones.

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