After a seminar late last year I commented on some of the potential shortcomings, at least in my mind, of the New Zealand Government's decision to invest tax dollars into ultra fast broadband (UFB). In recent months Telecom New Zealand , now shed of its fixed access networks after the structural separation of Chorus , has announced its plans for a 4G trial . This Long Term Evolution (LTE) offering is being adopted across the world and promises to have speeds of 300/75Mbps. Putting this into context the multi-million dollar investment in UFB promises speeds of at least 100Mbps. The geography and urban distribution of New Zealand mean that this Fibre to the Premise (FttP) rollout will never be committed to every home in New Zealand, the fixed costs would be prohibitive. The solution is the adjunct offering of the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) that will see a hybridisation of the network to include fixed wireless nodes, and ADSL to try and deliver the dream of ubiquitous ac
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