1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,600 Speaker 1: We had the BEG Infrastructure Commission report Land today. It 2 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:06,319 Speaker 1: announced seventeen projects that at once treated as national priorities. 3 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:08,240 Speaker 1: The bulk of those projects are being run by the 4 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:10,960 Speaker 1: public sector, but one private company has managed to get 5 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:12,800 Speaker 1: on the list. Two in that company is Coorus Mark 6 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: Owa is the CEO hey. 7 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:16,239 Speaker 2: Mark Tulity head. 8 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:18,599 Speaker 1: Now, the recommendation here is that you should be able 9 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:21,280 Speaker 1: to expand the fiber broadband from eighty seven percent coverage 10 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: of the country to ninety five percent. That eight percent 11 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: difference where is that in the country. 12 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 2: It's all over the country heather from the top of 13 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 2: the north to the bottom of the south. So it'll 14 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 2: pick up another four hundred thousand New Zealand businesses and 15 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:37,920 Speaker 2: homes and probably across a thousand communities. 16 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,600 Speaker 1: To say, why haven't they got it already, Well, we've 17 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:43,479 Speaker 1: done the original UFB deployment. 18 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 2: That is, you know what has kicked off over the 19 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 2: last decade or so, and that's now expanded fiber access 20 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 2: across eighty seven percent of the population of where we 21 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 2: all live, work and play. But this is now a 22 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 2: time to develop a rural connectivity strategy. 23 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: Okay, Now is it like anything else? The start of 24 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: it is the cheapest bit, and the further along you go, 25 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: the more expensive it gets. 26 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 2: Pretty much the further you go out from urban the 27 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 2: more the costs grow exponentially. 28 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 1: Do you think we need to get to one hundred percent? 29 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 2: And can we even I think ninety five percent, based 30 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 2: on the assessments we've done, is a pretty good use case, 31 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:23,320 Speaker 2: and we can see material economic and productivity benefit to 32 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,040 Speaker 2: come back from that roughly in order of seventeen billion 33 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 2: dollars over the next ten years. I think the reality 34 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 2: beyond ninety five percent, the economics are hard to stack up, 35 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:35,480 Speaker 2: just because of New Zealand land mass and where we 36 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 2: all live on a distributed basis. So if the. 37 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,560 Speaker 1: Government backed it today, how long would it take you 38 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:41,680 Speaker 1: to get to ninety five. 39 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:47,400 Speaker 2: Look, realistically, it's probably over five to ten years as 40 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 2: a program, But I think the benefit is we could 41 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 2: be up and running shove already in the next few months. 42 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 2: And you know, we're not testing theory here that we've 43 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 2: done this before very successfully, and I think that's part 44 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 2: of the endorsement. We've Chorus has got a good track 45 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 2: record of doing this. 46 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: I love that. I love that you sounded apologetic for 47 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: five to ten years. I mean you realize five to 48 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 1: ten years is the blink of an eye when it 49 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:09,960 Speaker 1: comes to infrastructure projects in this country, given how long 50 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:12,240 Speaker 1: we wait for anything to be built, right, it's pretty quick. 51 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 2: Well it is. But I think we believe in fiber 52 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:17,519 Speaker 2: as a gold standard and actually we want to play 53 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,359 Speaker 2: a role in bridging that digital divide. And you're actually 54 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 2: seeing more and more core infrastructure come out of the 55 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 2: regions and rural communities and putting digital infrastructure like fiber 56 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 2: in is a way to actually enable those other sectors. 57 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: Look, this seems to me a no brainer, right that 58 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five, in a digital world, given how 59 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:38,639 Speaker 1: much connectivity there is, how much business is now rely 60 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: on this, it seems a complete no brainer that we 61 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:42,360 Speaker 1: have to get it to at least this level. Do 62 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: we actually need a report to tell us us. 63 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 2: Oh, look, it's a great question. I think what we 64 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 2: take out of the endorsement out of the Infrastructure Commission 65 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 2: today is that there's a recognition that rural connectivity is 66 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 2: a priority problem. But at the same time, there's an 67 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 2: opportunity and we've got solutions here that we can move through. 68 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 2: And again, as I say, we're not testing theory, we've 69 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 2: actually seen the benefits and the ability that's fiber brain. 70 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: But Mark, this is a no brainer. You know what, 71 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: I know what. Anybody listening to this right now knows it. 72 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:13,239 Speaker 1: So do you think without a report like this a 73 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: government would drag its heels. 74 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 2: Look, I'm hoping not. And of course we'll say it's 75 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 2: a no brainer, But there's a lot of people out 76 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:22,480 Speaker 2: there probably take a cynical view that, of course rus 77 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:24,639 Speaker 2: is going to say that fiber is great. But I 78 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 2: think by any standard, in any report, including our own 79 00:03:28,080 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 2: Commerce Commission, would recognize that the gold standard and broadband 80 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 2: technology is fiber. 81 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:35,880 Speaker 1: Listen, Mark, I really appreciate your time. Thank you for 82 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: talking to us. As Mark Oware, whose Chorus is chief executive. 83 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: For more from Hither Duplasy Alan Drive, listen live to 84 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow 85 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio.