Region Moves Ahead With Broadband Plan

Nelson and Marlborough have made it through the first stage towards securing money from a $24 million government fund to boost high-performance communications infrastructure.

Representatives of 13 communities that have passed the first stage of the process to access seed funding from the Broadband Challenge fund have been taking part in workshops and meetings in Nelson yesterday and today. Government communications unit manager Brendon Burns said Nelson-Marlborough was one of the 13 communities that had passed the first hurdle. No other successful regions have yet been named, although 34 applied.

The Nelson Marlborough Info Region initiative, run by the regions’ two economic development agencies, was likely to seek up to $1.5 million to help boost high-performance communications infrastructure, said facilitator Chris O’Connell.

The high-speed broadband speed would be up to 1000 megabits a second, he said. To put this into context, Telecom is planning to lift its broadband capabilities to 3.5 megabits a second.

Mr O’Connell said Nelson-Marlborough already had building blocks in place, including a fibre optic cable Network Tasman had run across both regions.

Major users such as councils, schools, tertiary institutions and healthcare providers would benefit first from the high-speed technology, so things like digital x-rays could be moved around the healthcare sector faster.

The technology was likely to reach homes eventually, although it could be some years away, Mr O’Connell said.