In the push for a fibre future TUANZ is increasingly being asked to prove the case for high-speed and ubiquitous connectivity. But perhaps the most compelling argument came, not from Ernie, but from Jo Kensington – a graphic designer who lives on the North Shore and works for a studio in Sydney. She's been teleworking for seven years and in a short video that Ernie played she said that in the beginning she had to courier the files, now she has access to a shared server, and in the future she’d like to videolink into meetings during key stages in the design process without “worrying about data caps”.

Ernie challenged the telco industry to deliver for professionals like Jo – highly skilled people capable of earning a Sydney wage from an Auckland location. He said the time was right for a national fibre network and that as a small dynamic country we need to step up and get on with it.

“In this country however, the telcos are not about to deliver a fibre network unaided. Minister Cunliffe noted in a speech in Korea last week there remains a significant gap between the government’s level of aspiration for New Zealand as a centre of innovation and technology, and the existing commitments of market participants. Even now, while willing to accept government financial support for development, they seem focused on the short term.

As custodian of the technology that can solve so many problems, the industry should not be clinging to the past nor seeking to dampen user expectations…”

“Our politicians have made a bold statement. The industry should take the signal, lift its sights and work collaboratively with central and local government – please don’t drive down expectations. The community should support the direction the politicians are going and keep them to their word.”

You can read the full speech here.