What Affects Uptake of High Speed Broadband: Study

June 28, 2012 10:44 pm

Following the introduction of the Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) and Rural Broadband initiatives, the Commerce Commission looked at what factors may affect uptake of high speed broadband services by consumers and businesses.

The needs of rural users were highlighted in the report. The report says rural users have the same appetite for fast broadband as urban users, but have a more fundamental need, which is to be connected to basic broadband. They are concerned that they could be left behind as NZ moves forward with high speed broadband services.

The study also identified two main areas as being important to consumers from all sectors – costs relating to connecting and using high speed broadband, and the availability of video-on-demand services:

    • the expense of connecting to the UFB network and using high speed broadband services is critical for many people, and the current high costs are likely to slow down the uptake for both consumers and SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises); and
    • video content is likely to be what mostly drives consumers’ uptake of high speed broadband services over the next few years, and UFB uptake is likely to be higher if there is a good range of video-on-demand options available to consumers (currently, however, there are limited online video on demand services in NZ compared with many other countries).

View the full report
HERE.

Article complements of Bulletin Aotearoa – Click Here To Read the June Issue.

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