At the recent telcon9 conference in Auckland, Michael Cranna, managing director of Epitiro Technologies had some interesting things to say about our broadband. Epitiro is a global provider of broadband benchmarking data and hence is apparently as neutral as they come. While Cranna admitted that we’re a work in progress, his comments give some cause for optimism. Key points;
Our focus should shift from penetration to speed (a contention that I don’t 100% agree with)
Our current average BB speed is 3Mbps which is comparable to the UK (but behind Australia)
Our results are close to the international benchmark
Our planned, and announced future investment put us “up there” with the rest of the world
There were criticisms, but Cranna said our new regulatory framework puts us in a good position going forward - at last some optimism!
Recently I wrote an opinion piece for Unlimited magazine, extolling the benefits of more financial literacy education for students. I’ve copied the full text of the article below for those who want to read it. The other day I received a great email from someone who had read the article, it really made me feel good about the stuff I’m doing and was a real validation that I’m on the right track. The writer said;
Hi Ben
Someone just forwarded to me your article regarding the above and I just wanted to endorse your thoughts.
As a mother of 3 young kids struggling to make ends meet, I realise now more than ever our kids need to understand the value and potential of a dollar. As I look at returning to a changed workforce I wonder where best I can re-educate and re-enter to the shared benefit of my 3 future entrepreneurs.
I’m starting to wonder if they would benefit from me re-skilling in a financial direction in order to instill more economics into them and their lives as opposed to merely taking an admin position to pay the bills.
We currently invest in extra maths tuition to help our 9yr old but already I can see it’s not going to be enough to really advantage her in this modern world, and then their IT education is probably lacking too.
WOW what a wake up call, thanks for bringing our attention to this.
I browsed your diversity website and saw you live on a farm, sounds like a nice balance you’ve achieved!
It’s awesome to see parents thinking about these issues, I replied to the sender and told her that she was already over half way there given the obvious thought and attention she’s giving to the future of her kids.
Anyway - here’s the article in full for those who are interested;
But this morning I can’t resist. I readIcebreaker, the former New Zealand manufacturer of merino clothing, has presented at a rural environmental conference talking up it’s own policies. Apparently it will only buy fibre from farmers that meet minimum standards of care for their sheep and farm dogs, minimum food levels and the like. This all sounded great (hey my own sheep are treated the same way sitting in a paddock about 100metres from where I type this), until I read the last paragraph;
He defended Icebreaker manufacturing its product in China, saying the technology there was far better than what was available in New Zealand for large-scale production.
So the way I see it, this is business prepared to be ethical in situations where it can coerce ethics out of its suppliers (and assumedly at no cost to themselves) but when that extends to manufacturing in a country without mass environmental and social abuse, that preparedness somehow dissipates.
I liken it to the legion of people who drive their 4litre SUVs down to the cafe just so they can order free-trade coffee.
It’s why this world is in the dire situation it currently is - utter self-interest and token gestures that do nothing but thrust our own responsibilities onto others.
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