Entrepreneur Rod Drury’s recent trip to Wales provided further proof of just how far behind New Zealand is in telecommunication infrastructure. As he accessed fast, effective broadband from every hotel room he realised much further ahead that tiny nation is in terms of connectivity.
“They’ve got it all over us... I felt sick to the pit of my stomach,” he told delegates at the Telecommunications Day this afternoon.
Drury whose latest venture, a Software as a Service (SaaS) product Xero, is being floated on the stock exchange, believes that the country’s economic future lies in small, smart businesses. And the only way to access the customer base required to become successful is through fast fibre networks. But he said there was nothing he’d heard from the major telcos this morning that gave him hope we’ll be catching up anytime soon if we leave it to them.
“This industry (telecommunications) is holding up the rest of NZ,” he said. “The existing model that we’ve got is tied up in regulation. (We’re) letting the opportunity by and other countries are moving ahead. The status quo aren’t going to make a difference in my lifetime.”
Drury wrote a discussion paper earlier this year in which he advocated a national fibre network managed by central and local government and paid for by users. It has attracted an unprecedented amount of publicity. After his speech I asked him if that came as a surprise. “Yes, it’s a thing that’s just taken off.”
He says the reason it’s been so widely discussed is because it was time that someone in the private sector raised these issues. And he believes that politicians on both sides of the House are listening to and considering the issues he’s helping bring to the forefront of national debate.