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New Zealand Far Behind in High Speed Internet Connection

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) annually ranks countries that have high-speed internet connections to see which take top place within the 30 placements. For the second year running, New Zealand is lagging far behind other developed countries and has not managed to pull itself above last year?s ranking of 22nd place. New Zealand has 11.7 high speed internet connections per every one hundred citizens ? a far cry from the OECD average of 15.5 connections per 100 inhabitants.

Denmark, which took over from Iceland this year, is the country with the top broadband uptake ? averaging at 29.3 connections for every 100 inhabitants. Canada (22.4), Britain (19.4) and the United States (19.2) are all well ahead of New Zealand on the OECD rankings.

New Zealand business representatives are taking steps to rectify this situation, noting that that 11.7 per 100 inhabitants figure was up from last year?s 8.1 per 100. However, more serious action has to be taken if New Zealand wants to keep up with the rest of the world. Broadband connection is the key to the future and companies cannot hope to advance in technology and communication without a government that promotes high-speed internet connection. The New Zealand government has put broadband connection on its national agenda and is encouraging competition in the industry in order to keep prices down and encourage more people to make the connection.