Science Media Centre

A group of high-profile New Zealand businessmen today abandoned efforts to build a second major undersea broadband cable linking New Zealand to Australia and the United States, citing problems raising the $400 million required for the project.  While Pacific Fibre had secured contracts to the tune of $200 million to supply international capacity on the cable from customers such […]

Laura Jackson writes in the Manawatu Standard about a device, developed in Palmerston North, which is apparently able to speed up broadband without the need to install fibre-optic cables. In addition, the device is able to act as a backup electricity system for houses which do have fibre-optic cabling. An excerpt: (read in full here) […]

Helen Twose writes in the New Zealand Herald about the author of the Digital Britain report, Lord Stephen Carter’s assertion that New Zealand needs to decide how best to use the additional capacity to be provided by the government-backed ultra-fast broadband network currently being planned. The eventual use of a broadband network can affect how […]

On Tuesday night I was able to go and see UPLoad 2010.  Titled ‘The Great Broadband Debate’, it covered (amongst other things) the sitrep for broadband in New Zealand, why we need that second undersea cable, and how our lives might be changed by access to the sorts of broadband available elsewhere in the world. […]

Pipe dream or economy booster? The news yesterday that a group of wealthy businessmen including Warehouse founder Stephen Tindall and Trade Me founder Sam Morgan are leading a $900 million bid to build a 13,000km fibre optic cable between Australia, New Zealand and the US has created a lot of buzz. The prospect of an […]

The Nelson Mail reports on the successful testing of a new technology to help rescue stranded and lots cavers. The technology, which uses a satellite link to allow broadband internet access in rugged and inaccessible New Zealand terrain, gave rescuers better access to information, and an improved likelihood of finding people who are lost. An […]

A new survey questions whether fast broadband supplies productivity gains over slow broadband, although it’s clear that both provide a productivity leg-up over dial-up. The survey, conducted by Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, found that while there were gains when companies initially adopted broadband, no change ocurred when they switched to fast broadband.  However, […]

If the Government’s multibillion dollar plan to deliver high-speed internet access 75 per cent of the population has been a little thin on detail to date, some revelations today point to how the scheme will work in general. Communications minister Steven Joyce has called for submissions on his plan, which allows for a state-owned Crown […]

Computerworld sums up the main policies of National and Labour in this week’s issue. Broadband is obviously the dominant one with National’s $1.5 billion plan to fund a national fibre optic network in conjunction with the private sector the centre-piece of its ICT policy. Labour has its own plan which involves contestable funding for broadband […]

As the election nears and National’s $1.5 billion broadband plan is touted by John Key as the best enabler of the digital economy in New Zealand, the Government has unveiled its revised digital strategy for the country out to 2015. In this podcast of this morning’s Beehive press conference, Cunliffe explains why he thinks Labour’s […]