Playing the telecommunications game in New Zealand: The evolving story of telecommunications public policy in New Zealand

The evolving story of telecommunications public policy in New Zealand is discussed. Automatic telephone exchanges were introduced into the emerging network in the early 1900s, based on electro-mechanical switch technologies. The pace of change of technology and the take-up of service accelerated through the 1960's and 1970's. The New Zealand Post Office was one of the departments in their sights and in 1987 was broken into its three component parts: New Zealand Post, PostBank and Telecom New Zealand. The New Zealand Government is strongly of the belief that a first class broadband infrastructure is essential for sustainable economic growth and productivity gains over the long term. The most optimistic estimate for the cost to deploy fiber passed 75% of premises located in urban New Zealand is more than NZD2B, with an upper bound of around NZD4B. The Government has committed NZD48M to help develop rural broadband in an unspecified manner.