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having “a sharp increase” in government productivity to reduce the fiscal deficit, with annual performance improvements of 2% for the next five years, and 1% gains after that.
to be rolled out. It then ranked countries against each other, with NZ coming in 10th, behind countries such as Sweden, Estonia, France, Japan, South Korea and one place below Australia. It came in ahead of the United Kingdom and Germany.
More is at http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1102/S00006/tax-reformessential-to-lift-savings-175-gst-mooted-swg.htm
The cost of the broadband scheme to NZ taxpayers (per household connected) is about 30 percent less than in Australia, with the NZ Government planning to spend 2.2% of annual revenue on ultra-fast broadband compared to Australia's 7.6%.
Rewards from Credit Cards? Hmmm
NZ plans to extend fibre to 75% of the country are well below Australia's target of 93% and South Korea's 95%. Its goal of offering speeds of 100 megabits per second was the same as France, Sweden and Estonia.
Consumer NZ is warning against using credit cards to get reward points. It spent $25,000 dollars over two years on credit cards and paid them off monthly, in order to see what reward scheme offered the best return. For those who regularly pay off their outstanding debt there are some rewards, but not many - and 13 of the cards went into negative value by the time fees were taken into consideration. The top amount of money Consumer could get on a card was $182 worth of flying. It says that people on average shouldn't really use those cards as a reason to buy something or for points.
$300 Million for 100 Companies The NZ Venture Investment Fund (NZVIF) has invested $123 million into 100 seed and start-up companies since it started in 2002. Combining private investment, those 100 companies have received $308 million of venture and angel investment capital. Of the 100 companies: 79 are exporting; 29 have received investment from offshore investors; 23 emerged from either universities or Crown Research Institutes; and 19 have been part of business incubators. Auckland is home to 53 of the companies, with Christchurch hosting 16. Nine have been sold and 7 have been written off or liquidated. Twenty-eight of the investments were into seed stage enterprises, 56 were into start-up companies, 15 into early expansion companies, and 1 company at the expansion stage.
Internet/ICT Comparing Global Broadband Rollouts
The Economist Intelligence Unit's ranking of proposed broadband builds: 1: South Korea; 2: Japan; 3: Singapore; 4= Sweden; 4= Finland; 5: Estonia; 6: France; 7: Spain; 8: Denmark; 9: Australia; 10= NZ; 10= USA; 11: Italy; 12: United Kingdom; 13: Germany; 14: Greece
Rural Broadband: Telecom/Vodafone… The government is negotiating with Telecom and Vodafone for provision of extended broadband services in rural NZ. The two companies submitted a joint proposal to the $285 million Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) tender, which will improve access to faster broadband for rural customers. The proposal involves an extension of Telecom’s fibre network to deliver fixed wireless and fixed wire broadband to 252,000 customers in rural NZ, and the construction of 154 fibre-connected cell phone towers to enable fixed wireless broadband to rural customers, as well as improved mobile coverage, and the direct connection of 719 rural schools to fibre networks. At the moment, about 20% of customers in rural NZ can access speeds of at least 5 Mbps, and this will rise to 86% of rural households and businesses, with 95% of rural schools receiving ultra-fast connection. As well, more rural customers living on the fibre routes may be able to get fibre-to-the-door. The rollout is due to be completed by 2016. Open access rules will be included in any contract, with other providers who have not been successful in the tender able to provide services. The system will also support new technologies like 4G. Unsuccessful tender parties are now encouraged to start working with Telecom and Vodafone to look at ways to further improve solutions for rural NZ. More is at www.med.govt.nz/rural-broadband
A London research group, The Economist Intelligence Unit, has compared broadband rollouts around the world, measuring projected speed, coverage, market competition and the level that internet investment would strain other public funds. It also looked at how long it would take for fibre
Rural Women New Zealand, enquiries@ruralwomen.org.nz, 04 473 5524
Rural Bulletin March 2011- 23