Editing Economy of New Zealand (section)

=== Telecommunications ===
[[File:24 Dunedin Town Hall at the Octagon square, Dunedin, New Zealand.JPG|thumb|right|Telephone booths in [[Dunedin]]]]
{{main|Telecommunications in New Zealand}}
Present-day telecommunications in New Zealand include telephony, [[Radio in New Zealand|radio]], [[Television in New Zealand|television]], and [[Internet in New Zealand|internet]] usage. A competitive telecommunications market has seen mobile prices drop to some of the lowest in the OECD.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comcom.govt.nz/regulated-industries/telecommunications/monitoring-reports-and-studies/monitoring-reports/|title= 2013 Annual Telecommunications Monitoring Report|publisher=[[Commerce Commission]]|date=21 May 2014|access-date=22 December 2014}}</ref> The copper wire and fibre cable networks are mostly owned by [[Chorus Limited]], a publicly listed company. Chorus wholesales services to retail providers (such as [[Spark New Zealand|Spark]]). In the mobile sector, there are three operators: Spark, [[One NZ]] and [[2degrees]].

==== Internet ====
{{main|Internet in New Zealand}}
New Zealand has a high rate of internet use. {{As of|2014|10}}, there are 1,916,000 broadband connections and 65,000 dial-up connections in New Zealand, of which 1,595,000 are residential and 386,000 are business or government.<ref name=stats>{{cite journal| url= http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/information_technology_and_communications/ISPSurvey_HOTP2014.aspx| title=Internet Service Provider Survey: 2014| journal=Internet Service Provider Survey| date=14 October 2014| publisher=[[Statistics New Zealand]]| access-date = 14 October 2014|issn=1178-0509}}</ref>

The Government has two plans to bring [[Ultra-Fast Broadband]] to 97.8% of the population by 2019, and is spending NZ$1.35 billion on public-private partnerships to roll out fibre-to-the-home connection in all main towns and cities with population over 10,000. The program aims to deliver ultra-fast broadband capable of at least 100&nbsp;Mbit/s download and 50&nbsp;Mbit/s upload to 75% of New Zealanders by 2019.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ultra-Fast Broadband Initiative|url=http://www.med.govt.nz/sectors-industries/technology-communication/fast-broadband/ultra-fast-broadband-initiative|publisher=Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment|access-date=6 March 2014}}</ref> In total, 1,340,000 households in 26 towns and cities will be connected.

Gigabit internet (1000&nbsp;Mbit/s download speeds) was made available to the entire Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) footprint on 1 October 2016, in an announcement from Chorus.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chorus.co.nz/chorus-launches-gigabit-wholesale-broadband-services-nationwide|title=Chorus launches gigabit wholesale broadband services nationwide {{!}} Chorus|website=www.chorus.co.nz|access-date=30 October 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030201700/https://www.chorus.co.nz/chorus-launches-gigabit-wholesale-broadband-services-nationwide|archive-date=30 October 2016}}</ref>

A$300 million Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) has also been introduced by the Government, with the aim to bring broadband of at least 5&nbsp;Mbit/s to 86% of rural customers by 2016.<ref name="mbie-rbi">{{cite web|title=Rural Broadband Initiative contracts|url=http://www.med.govt.nz/sectors-industries/technology-communication/communications/broadband-policy/rural-broadband-initiative/rural-broadband-initiative-contracts|publisher=Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment}}</ref>