Bill Bennett - New Zealand telecoms and technology news
Home of the Download Weekly, the New Zealand telecommunications newsletter – also covers personal productivity tools and local technology issues.
ComCom report charts Starlink impact - Bill Bennett
The ComCom says LEO satellite broadband now accounts for 14 percent of rural connections. In the last year the number of connections has climbed from 12,000 to over 34,000. New Zealand currently has the highest number of satellite connections per person in the OECD. (We are also fourth highest per capita for fixed wireless broadband connections.)
What is this site about and who is Bill Bennett?
Bill Bennett is a freelance New Zealand technology and business journalist. He started writing about technology in 1980 as staff writer on Practical Computing magazine. He left the UK in 1987 to work in Wellington on The Dominion as Computer Page editor. He spent a decade working in Sydney, Australia. There he was managing editor of two ...
Starlink’s growing pains
There are now 6,426 satellites. And reports from the US say the company is on track to earn revenues of US$6.6 billion this year. By any standards this is fast growth. But fast growth tends to bring problems. In the case of Starlink the number of satellites in orbit is growing fast, but not fast enough to eliminate pockets of congestion ...
Benoit Felten on the UFB fibre upgrade - Bill Bennett
In late 2021 New Zealand’s fibre wholesale companies boosted standard speeds on their networks from 100 mbps to 300 mbps. Paris-based analyst Benoit Felton puts the move into perspective: As an international analyst of all things broadband, I use few examples more frequently than New Zealand when discussing decisive and effective policy.
New Zealand falls behind 5G availability pack - Bill Bennett
ComCom sets out expectations on surcharges. An open letter from the Commerce Commission calls on businesses to be more reasonable about surcharges.. John Small, who chairs the Commerce Commission says: “…our intent is not to promote or discourage surcharging but to focus on ensuring that where merchants do surcharge, that they do so at no more than the cost of accepting the payment.”
Covid's technology Great Leap Forward - Bill Bennett
Early in 2020 much of the world went into lockdown. Companies sent workers home to work. Schools sent students home to study. As a response, there was a surge in technology adoption.
Regulator targets mobile coverage maps, no hassle plan exits
The Commerce Commission wants mobile operators to make their mobile coverage maps easier to compare. At the same time it wants customers to be able to exit plans without penalty if the coverage at the places most important to them is not up to scratch. Regulators have given carriers a year to standardise their coverage maps.
Extending New Zealand's fibre network - Bill Bennett
2019年11月28日 · The UFB1 fibre network reaches three quarters of New Zealand. UFB2 will stretch that to around 87 per cent. We can take fibre further, but that needs taxpayer money. A lot of it. When New Zealand built its copper telephone network, government saw it as a nation-building exercise. Copper phone wires reached almost everywhere.
How AI changes New Zealand work, jobs - Bill Bennett
In the face of an uncertain future, New Zealand must discourage over-specialisation in education. Education and training at all levels must equip young New Zealanders with a broad array of the skills and expertise required for an AI driven world. 1. This is vital. Too often we hear our economy needs STEM education and that’s the end of the story.