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Where is New Zealand Going Written on 2006. We send our kids to school to learn, to be educated, so they are in a position to make informed decisions and when they have completed their studies they enter a world where they are told: the most important decision a business can make, is put an advertisement in the back of the telephone book. Give us a break, New Zealand has the second highest Internet access / usage per head of population in the world, people are not going to pick up a telephone book when they are able to use the Internet to find information. The OECD report records New Zealand as having a very low broadband world ranking. We are in the bottom third, which according to the Minister of Communications is not good enough for a country if it is to remain competitive in the global economy. The Government approaches Telecom to do something about it, the suggestion of "unbundling" is mentioned. Don't do it says Telecom, we give an undertaking to get NZ into the 21st century. What do we get: four geeks, telling us how good broadband is. Who wants to be associated with these four idiots? But think on, has NZ the technological infrastructure to support a modern society. France can offer its residential users speeds of 18 mbps; Telecom can offer households the maximum of 2.8 mbps on selected plans. By the way, China has 111 million citizens with Internet access, 80% of these have broadband. Maybe the geek advertisement does its job, maybe the objective is to turn people off obtaining broadband because our infrastructure cannot cope but the "powers that be" can say we are doing our best but the people of New Zealand don't want to advance into the 21st century. Give us a break; you cannot think that New Zealand desires to be last. The Retailers Association of New Zealand (an influential group?) is dismissive of the Internet. Quote "people will always buy retail" Nice to know they are making decisions for the NZ population. Yes, I agree people will buy retail, but the Internet permits the buyer to see what is available before they visit the retailers shop. Has the Retailers Association missed the point? The Internet is an information channel; it allows retailers to communicate with customers, to tell them what is available. Where is New Zealand going, who is making the decisions and why, are they the correct ones, what are they trying to protect, do they know what they are doing or are we being lead up the proverbial garden path. It's worth thinking about. More comment