Friday, 13 July 2012 09:58

Vodafone move welcomed

Written by 

If the $840 million sale of TelstraClear to Vodafone gets regulatory approval, it could strengthen the financial case for an enhanced rural broadband offer by Vodafone.

"To be honest few farmers will be directly impacted by the proposed sale of TelstraClear to Vodafone," says Anders Crofoot, Federated Farmers Telecommunications spokesperson.

"The upsides we see at Federated Farmers are TelstraClear's strong fibre network, its radio spectrum and of course, content. With TelstraClear being a Sky reseller, Vodafone gets the opportunity to integrate this content with its future offer; to rural customers especially.

"With potentially 29% of the broadband market in a combination of wired and wireless, Vodafone is poised to become a major force.

"TelstraClear's strong cable network and the spectrum it has are major drivers towards a true 4G mobile network. Something we are incredibly keen on to get ultra fast broadband from the farm and across a wide geographic spread.

"Certainly, Vodafone chief executive, Russell Stanners, was impressively upbeat at Federated Farmers recent national conference on where they want to go.

"You feel this is the first act in a larger drama involving Telecom and Vodafone. Hopefully rural customers will get to enjoy it," Crofoot says.

More like this

Corporate narrative?

OPINION: Forget about the fabled 'rural-urban' divide, the real fault-line in farming might actually be the divide between grass-roots farmers and the industry corporates who claim to be 'speaking on behalf of farmers'.

Editorial: Sensible move

OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.

Dairy unity

OPINION: A last-minute compromise ensured that the election of the new Federated Farmers national dairy chair wasn't a repeat of the Super 15 rugby final - Canterbury versus Waikato.

Featured

Horticulture hit badly in Nelson/Tasman

HortNZ's CEO, Kate Scott says they are starting to see the substantial cumulative effects on their members of the two disastrous flood events in the Nelson Tasman region.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Gaslight much?

OPINION: Labour leader Chris 'Chippy' Hipkins is carrying on the world-class gaslighting of the nation that he and his cohorts…

Our own 'Clarkson'

OPINION: The huge success of former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson's new TV show, Clarkson's Farm, and the boost it…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter