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Broadband and Telecom NZ Has New Zealand a parallel problem; an inadequate communications network and a greater New Zealand business community which does not see the need for improvement. Doing business in the 21st century requires a 21st century approach but is the business sector ready to take advantage of the Internet. Do they want broadband A. New Zealand has the second highest access to the Internet per head of population in the world. In other words the NZ public is wired and aware. From the start of the Web circa 1995, New Zealanders as a public have been ready to embrace the Internet. B. Business in New Zealand has been very slow to embrace the Internet. The uptake from the traditional business sector in NZ has been poor. Their appreciation that there are customers out there on the Internet seems to have escaped their business plans. The results of surveys published in 2003 into the websites of the top 100 NZ companies were not flattering and the Otago University School of Business research in the service sector showed businesses with a lack of knowledge in matters of the Internet. Fast forward to 2005 and New Zealand is noted as having about 15 websites per 1000 people, less than half the OECD average of 30 and well behind leader Germany, at 85. Between A and B there is a large imbalance, an aware public and an unaware or indifferent business sector. Place Telecom into the equation and ask why should they improve the service, when there is no demand from the business sector. Is Telecom a victim of its own success? Quote: "We send our kids to school to be educated, to learn, so they are better able to make informed decisions, but when they leave, they enter a world where they are told by Telecom, the best decision a business can make, is put an advertisement in the back of a telephone book". Maybe 15 years ago but not now, the public is now on the Internet, and the businesses, well; they are still in the back of a telephone book. Maybe the debate should not be just about Telecom but whether New Zealand business want to or see the need to advance into the 21st century. Selected Retailers on: Main site map   Contact Us