Fast track for high speed broadband

Small to medium businesses have welcomed moves towards high speed broadband, according to a Commerce Commission paper.

The final paper, in a series of three issues papers relating to the uptake of high speed broadband, looks at the willingness of consumers and businesses to pay for the service, its potential content and applications.

Telecommunications Commissioner, Dr Ross Patterson, says the latest paper investigates factors which may impede the adoption of services, and will be relevant to presentations and panel discussions at ‘The Future with High Speed Broadband: Opportunities for New Zealand’ conference to be held later this month.

According to the paper, nearly 50% of consumers and SMEs, surveyed by the Commission, showed some interest in at least one of the broadband services and applications. Most were interested in high definition movies and video on demand, while SMEs were attracted to online sales and marketing applications.

Video content is likely to be delivered over high speed broadband networks, enabling new players to enter the market and new products to be delivered. The extent of these changes will depend on the ability of companies to access premium video content.

While the survey also found most consumers were not willing to pay more than an additional $10 per month, Dr Patterson says, depending on the attractiveness of content and applications offered, consumers may be prepared to pay more for services delivered by high speed broadband.

The latest paper follows December’s technical paper, and another concerning e-health and e-education, published last month.