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Title: Taking the initiative: lessons from New Zealand's experience with the ultra-fast broadband initiative

Authors: Malcolm Webb; Mark Toner; Jordan Cox

Addresses: Level 3, 110 Customs St West, P.O. Box 105-426, Auckland City 1143, New Zealand ' Level 3, 110 Customs St West, P.O. Box 105-426, Auckland City 1143, New Zealand ' Level 3, 110 Customs St West, P.O. Box 105-426, Auckland City 1143, New Zealand

Abstract: Many governments are considering, or have begun to implement, plans to facilitate the roll-out of high speed broadband. This paper considers New Zealand's ultra-fast broadband initiative, a global leader in government-assisted fibre-to-the-premise networks. It describes how the New Zealand Government addressed the numerous challenges involved with next generation access networks, including funding, demand-side and supply-side risk and the involvement of the incumbent and other private operators. New Zealand's experience offers valuable lessons for countries considering a similar initiative, and this paper extracts and summarises these lessons.

Keywords: ultra-fast broadband; next generation access networks; fibre to the home; fibre to the premises; FTTH; FTTP; internet; New Zealand; Chorus; UFB initiative; government assistance; funding; demand side risk; supply side risk; private operators.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTPL.2014.061665

International Journal of Technology Policy and Law, 2014 Vol.1 No.4, pp.317 - 334

Published online: 02 Jul 2014 *