Around 40,000 householders in rural areas will need to head elsewhere to watch the full Rugby World Cup line-up this year. That’s because their broadband won’t be good enough to stream the games.
This was the estimate from Crown Infrastructure Partners when they were quizzed by MPs on the transport and infrastructure select committee.
Crown Infrastructure Partners (CIP), is the body tasked with providing ultra-fast and rural broadband to New Zealanders. CIP’s chair Simon Allen and Chief Exec Graham Mitchel said that the second Rural Broadband Initiative rollout was still in its early stages, but had already seen 31,000 household hooked up
Although this will have increased by the time the World Cup kicks off on September 20 in Japan, an estimated 40,000 homes will have to head to the pub, or a friend with better broadband. Many of these homes will still have only dial-up level internet speeds.
Only 7 World Cup games are scheduled to be screen free-to-air on TVNZ. The others will only be available by streaming them on a broadband or mobile connection through Spark on their newly launched Spark Sport service
As the Rural Broadband initiative rolls out across the country, it’s worth checking that you are on the best broadband plan possible. It’s easy to check what’s available in your area using the Broadband Compare address finder. Simply enter your address to view a tailored list of broadband plans available at your address.
