Telecom New Zealand has proposed to kick-start the national broadband network project by connecting fiber to every school and hospital on North and South Islands by 2012.
The company has submitted two proposals, either of which would see 2,000 schools and every hospital connected within two years of work starting, with the remaining 600 schools to be added six months later.
The schools would then form local “broadband hubs”, increasing the ease of rolling out fiber into rural areas.
The New Zealand government plans to invest NZ$1.5 billion ($863.1 million) on the NBN project, aiming to bring fiber to 75% of the population.
Under Telecom NZ's first proposal, government investment would be coordinated with Telecom's fiber network and its future fiber plans.
In the second, the government would create a national network of ducts to be controlled by a government-owned company. The duct network would build on Telecom's existing ducts and fiber.
Telecom NZ would not make a profit from any government-owned fiber assets under either proposal, the company said.
“Prices would be set so that Telecom would not make a profit from the government component of any investment – all of the value would be returned straight to the nation,” Telecom CEO Paul Reynolds said.
Rural lobby group Federated Farmers has lent its support to the proposals.
The newly-formed New Zealand Regional Fibre Group has issued its own submission, calling on the government to adopt a regional-based rollout strategy, and adopt open access principles to ensure the network is created with low barriers of entry.