This is the cached copy of http://www.wellington.govt.nz/projects/new/broadband/pdfs/broadband-factsheet.pdf

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Wellington City Council is being
proactive The Council recognises that
the provision of high performance
broadband is strategically important
to the city and is rapidly becoming a
basic necessity like water supply,
sewerage, and roads. This importance
is reflected in the Wellington Regional
Strategy, which has identified
broadband, and better international
air links, as key to enhancing the
region’s future economic growth.
Wellington City Council is in a unique
position to facilitate discussions and
partnerships between different sectors
to ensure the city gets what it needs.
It has formulated a vision for
broadband, which Councillors have
agreed to.
A quick definition of broadband
Broadband is short for ‘broad bandwidth’.
In general terms, it refers to high capacity
telecommunications networks, which take the
form of a fibre optic cable, copper wire or
wireless signal. How well it performs is
measured in bits per second (bps) bandwidth,
which determines how much information or
data can be transmitted and how quickly.
Broadband is important in today’s world
Over the last 10 years, the telecommunications
sector has undergone unprecedented change.
High capacity broadband networks are fast
becoming a ‘must have’ infrastructure for
internationally competitive cities. Businesses,
investors and skilled workers expect cities to
provide affordable, very high speed, universally
available broadband. This is happening in many
cities around the world, and Wellington needs
to follow suit to capture the significant potential
economic and social benefits.
The benefits of broadband
Overseas studies confirm there are real economic
benefits to communities with widely available
broadband. These include an increase in jobs,
greater economic activity, small business creation
and growth and a rise in household wealth.
There are numerous other social and residential
benefits, including better work-life balance,
transport and environmental benefits (as more
people work from home) and more innovative
educational and healthcare delivery (video
nursing, school video conferencing).
The current situation in New Zealand…
New Zealand lags behind in broadband uptake,
ranking 22 out of 30 in the OECD for the number
of households with broadband connection.
While the Government recognises broadband
as a priority and has provided some funding,
it encourages regions or cities to take the lead.
Most local commentators expect there to be
ongoing investment in closed access network
infrastructure by private sector providers but
not at a pace that will provide fast, cheap
broadband in acceptable timeframes. This is
because providers have no incentive to invest
for the long term.
… and in Wellington
Wellington is fortunate to have had significant
investment for over 10 years from companies like
TelstraClear, Telecom and Citylink. We don’t want
tounderstate the importance of these investments
but we would like to raise the bar. One of our
objectives is to have unconstrained open access,
so this is likely to involve higher speeds than
what we currently define as broadband.
Current internet use by Wellingtonians
The Council’s recent resident’s satisfaction survey
shows 88% of Wellington city residents use
the internet and almost 50 percent have
broadband access. The Council expects usage
to increase if high capacity broadband is more
readily available.
– an introduction and overview
of Wellington City Council’s vision
for the City
Broadband fact sheet
New Zealand lags behind in
broadband uptake, ranking 22
out of 30 in the OECD for the
number of households with
broadband connection.
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The Council’s vision for the
future: By 2012, the Council
wants all of Wellington city to
have affordable access to high
performance, open access
broadband infrastructure and
services that meet the ongoing
needs of the city's residents,
businesses and investors.
The full report
If you would like more detailed information about
the Council’s broadband initiatives, you can find
the Council’s full report, titled 'ICT Policy - Enabling
Economic Transformation Through Broadband' on
www.Wellington.govt.nz/haveyoursay/meetings/c
ommittee/Strategy_and_Policy/2007/01Mar0915/pd
f/01_broadband.pdf
Infrastructure options
Wellington would take a staged approach to deploying a fibre optic network
across the city, starting by setting up a fibre backbone, with extensions to
neighbourhood streets and homes made of wireless, fibre or copper.
Potential cost
Preliminary costings for setting up comprehensive high performance broadband
networks across Wellington city range from $15 – $40 million but it is important
to understand that ratepayers will not be asked to bear the entire cost of the
project. Several costing models will be explored, including private/public
partnerships and user pays. It’s possible this could mean that the Council would
have no need to invest, as the private sector may deliver what we seek.
The Council’s next steps
The Council will formally ask
potential industry partners
for their help in how best to
turn its vision into a reality.
Working together will help to
determine the most
appropriate business model,
mix of technologies, technical
details, financial options and
respective roles for the Council
and industry partners.
The Council’s key objectives
To meet its vision for the future, the Council has
identified the following objectives as being essential
for a high performance broadband environment:
Open access: so that private serviceproviders compete
on service not access to the network itself
Symmetrical capacity: so that you can send
information and receive it at the same speeds
and capacities
Very high capacity: so that Wellington’s current and
futureglobally competitive individuals and companies,
e.g. Weta Digital, Icebreaker, Trade Me, can be
confident of having access to advanced services
Comprehensive and affordable coverage: so that
all residents in Wellington city have access to fast,
affordable broadband, not just those in the CBD.