Leaked New Zealand broadband plan comes in for criticism

Leaked documents show that New Zealand's new ultra-fast broadband (UFB) network will come with a variety of options and moderate prices, with connections starting at an estimated $47 a month.

The Herald has obtained a "price book" revealing the wholesale charges set by the Government agency in charge of the UFB, Crown Fiber Holdings. The wholesale charges are for the Local Fiber Companies bidding on ultra-fast broadband contracts around the country, and will be set at different levels for the next ten years. While retail costs for ultra-fast broadband plans remain unclear as of now, they can be estimated by adding an 18 per cent retail margin as defined by the Commerce Commission previously, and GST. Despite the government's promise that New Zealanders will receive at least 100Mpbs downloads and 50Mbps uploads on the fibre-optic network that will cost tax payers $1.5 billion, the price book shows that the entry-level service runs at more modest 30Mbps downstream and 10Mbps upstream. Today's broadband over the country's ageing copper phone network provides up to 15Mbps downloads and 800kbps uploads. With a ten-fold increase in upload speed, the UFB is expected to substantially improve people's broadband experience. More importantly, the government guarantees the minimum speeds of the UFB even though each fibre-optic network segment will be shared between as many as 24 residential customers