Adams Amy: Telecommunications (Development Levy) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeAdams Amy: Telecommunications (Development Levy) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 21 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3712. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon AMY ADAMS (Minister for Communications): I move That the Telecommunications (Development Levy) Amendment Bill be now read a second time. We heard a lot in the first reading in the various speeches. We heard from process issues to Labour wanting to declare this successful important programme a failure. Well we know that Labour never wanted it. We know that if Labour had been in Government it would not have done it. But I can stand here as a rural MP—one of the few rural MPs who have actually contributed on this—and say that I am incredibly proud that we have already brought better broadband to more than 325000 rural and provincial houses. I know that that matters in rural New Zealand and this bill is about taking that even further.We have heard claims that this is somehow a surprise move and we have slipped one past New Zealanders. We announced this in August which was pre-election. We announced it again in March which was several months ago.Hon David Cunliffe: Why is it going through all stages in urgency? What’s the hurry?Hon AMY ADAMS: The bill is the most simple bill imaginable with one operative clause doing exactly what we said it would do. To answer Mr Cunliffe’s very simple point the hurry is that New Zealanders want broadband they want it fast and we are going to do everything we can to get it to them.I also want to reiterate at the beginning of this contribution that the telecommunications development levy cost for consumers is a few cents a month—a very few cents a month—and it has been built into prices for some years. The costs to the telecommunications companies remain exactly the same under this bill. This extension comes into effect on 1 July 2016 but it has not taken some of the telecommunications companies long to jump at the chance to announce price rises and blame the Government.I have to say to claim that this extension warrants a price rise is disingenuous at best and a blatant money grab at worst. Furthermore the changes do not take effect for 14 months. Given that the telecommunications development levy represents a few cents a month I will be very interested to see whether prices do rise when and by how much. If they do it is a blatant grab for more profits that they want to blame someone else for.Let us be very clear about this. What Spark is saying is that it thinks that taxpayers should fund its business infrastructure. We do not. This is infrastructure that telecommunications companies use to provide their commercial services over and we think that they should pay for it. I am not going to charge every New Zealander to fund business assets for Spark Vodafone and others to use. They should pay for it—which is why we levy them—and then provide it on a common basis. It is a well-designed process it works well and New Zealand likes it.The first phase of the Rural Broadband Initiative programme is creating a huge opportunity for regional economic growth and that is something that this Government is delivering. Alongside investment from the partners the Government’s deployment of the Rural Broadband Initiative is delivering better connectivity to our rural and remote communities. The next phase will build on the success of that by providing infrastructure to rural homes to farms to schools to businesses and to health centres.Brett Hudson: We back these communities Minister—we back them.Hon AMY ADAMS: That is right. We back them we represent them and that is why this Government is getting this done and Labour would oppose it.We are seeing a significant number of rural communities able to access fast broadband through upgrading the copper line network. So far this has included upgrading copper landlines for more than 85000 rural households to speeds of up to 20 megabits a second. For the last quarter I am pleased to tell the House the rate of deployment for upgrading copper lines for fast broadband is equal to about 46 lines every day being upgraded. The upgrade of fixed line copper broadband in rural areas is progressing incredibly well and it is meaning that our businesses and export sector can grow innovate and sell to the world and we want to take that further because we back success in rural New Zealand. Better connectivity means access to cloud-based software and other benefits like high-definition video streaming giving our businesses a competitive advantage.The programmes and the regulatory environment are showing dividends in our international rankings. We are now No. 1 amongst all developed countries for annual growth of fibre connections with an annual growth of 272 percent and we are now ranked 15th out of 34 OECD countries. Do you know what it was in 2004 under Labour? It was 22nd. We have now gone from the bottom third of the OECD to the top half—it is making a difference.Deployment in the first phase of the Rural Broadband Initiative has also seen a significant expansion of cellular coverage in rural New Zealand with 113 new towers and 308 existing towers upgraded so far. We are establishing new towers at the rate of about one every 10 days which is very impressive. Cellular towers have facilitated greater network coverage for mobile users to make and receive mobile calls and data on their devices. But it is not just about households and businesses actually—38 out of 39 rural hospitals are now able to connect at a 100 megabits a second.Hon Member: How many?Hon AMY ADAMS: It is 38 out of 39 of our rural health-care centres. Also 972 rural schools are now able to connect with peak speeds of 100 megabits a second under the Rural Broadband Initiative and 51 of our most remote schools have received point-to-point wireless connections. Because infrastructure established through the Rural Broadband Initiative is open access it means that existing and emerging telecommunications companies throughout the industry and throughout the country can take advantage of this infrastructure to provide innovative services.As we know the bill enables funding to be made available for further improving rural connectivity by also establishing a mobile black spot fund as well as extending the Rural Broadband Initiative programme. The mobile black spot fund will address gaps in cellular coverage with a focus on transport corridors and tourist spots. This brings important gains for convenience and business productivity but also importantly for public safety through 111 calling accessibility from mobile phones in some locations away from landlines. This programme and the bill that funds it will bring fast reliable broadband to more New Zealanders to more Kiwi businesses and to more parts of regional New Zealand.The rural areas targeted for improvement will now be identified through a tender process and technology solutions that will best meet the needs of those communities will be selected. It is worth noting that the technology to be used in the second phase of the Rural Broadband Initiative may not be the same as for the first phase. I am certainly open to technology suppliers providing new and innovative options to consider and that is all part of the process we are now working through. A registration of interest has been released to obtain more information and I encourage all rural communities to get involved. I encourage councils to take part and to talk to their households and businesses.This Government’s vision is for a New Zealand where anyone anywhere can take advantage of digital opportunities and we are not going to let only the highly densely populated highly profitable parts of New Zealand benefit. That is why we levied the telecommunications companies to ensure that the infrastructure is strong right across rural New Zealand. This is a Government that works for all New Zealand and that is why we are supporting this bill.