CO-OPERATIVE NEWS
data to comply with rules environmental consent requirements and mitigate risks associated with New Zealand's dynamic and occasionally extreme weather,” NIWA’s Manager of Marketing and Industry Engagement, Dr. Mark Bojesen-Trepka, says. “The seamless connection of technologies and information opportunities at paddock scale makes this an exciting project for NIWA and we look forward to demonstrating the benefits.” The technology will not only save money for irrigating farmers but also help them to make better effluent and nutrient decisions. Good farm management practices that help the environment and are based on sound economic data are a win for all. This is where the power of Farmlands comes to the fore – our national team of in-field specialists is on farms every day, acting as another set of “sensors” (the traditional hands-and-eyes sort) that provide an additional layer of learning, with more experts available in store. After a successful Connecting Farms trial, Farmlands’ ambition is to support as close to 100 percent of New Zealand’s land mass coverage as possible. The recent Rural Broadband Initiative 2 (RBI2) announcement is a welcome boost to this goal, even though it is not necessary for the sensors to be within range of a 4G network. The sensor base stations do need to communicate with the outside world, and extending the 4G network deeper into rural New Zealand makes the national roll-out faster and cheaper.
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Funding boost for roll-out In August, the Government made an announcement regarding partners for the Rural Broadband Initiative extension/Mobile Black Spots (RBI2/MBS) programme. The Government first announced the RBI2/MBS policy in 2015 with funding of $150 million for the roll-out of enhanced rural broadband and mobile coverage for black spots, in conjunction with telecommunications providers. The announcement was the outcome of the tender process Crown Infrastructure Partners (CIP, formerly Crown Fibre Holdings), the responsible Government agency, has been running for RBI2/MBS. CIP is partnering with a new joint venture between Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees called the Rural Connectivity Group (RCG) to deliver the bulk of the RBI2/MBS programme. CIP is also partnering with nine regional wireless internet service providers for additional RBI2 coverage. Graham Mitchell, Chief Executive of CIP, is pleased with the progress. “We have a strong set of partners with deep expertise in the types of wireless technology that we will be deploying and in the local regions that will benefit from the new coverage. This initiative will greatly benefit regional New Zealand in providing improved broadband connectivity and mobile coverage,” he says. Funding for RBI2/MBS came from the Telecommunications Development Levy, a levy on telecommunications providers to fund rural connectivity services that would otherwise not be commercially viable. The August announcement included that the base $150 million funding will be topped up with an additional $140 million (bringing the total to $290 million) to be spread across the RBI2/MBS partners to gain more coverage. For Farmlands shareholders, this will expand the number of rural households and businesses that will have access to rural broadband, and will also target coverage of mobile black spots by providing greater mobile coverage on stretches of state highway and in tourism locations where there is no coverage. On farms, improved broadband and mobile coverage will assist with health and safety, and through using “Internet of Things” technology will lead to improvements in monitoring, traceability and production. Today, geographically New Zealand has about 50 percent mobile coverage. Post RBI2/MBS, the expectation is that this will be increased by 20-30 percent. The delivered coverage will depend on a formal planning process, although sites and areas have been announced. With Spark being a key Farmlands Card partner and a member of the RCG, we will be communicating in the coming months how the Farmlands rural community can provide feedback and support in getting fast wireless broadband to their homes and rural businesses.
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