5.4.3 Māori interests

The government recognises that Information Communication Technology (ICT) is important because it drives productivity and innovation. Advances in technology such as broadband are opening up new markets, new opportunities, and new ways of doing things faster, better and more cheaply. There are significant economic development opportunities for Māori in the ICT sector. Government has previously agreed, on a case by case basis, to reserved spectrum for purchase by Māori organisations to facilitate their investment and participation in the knowledge economy.

There may be interest from Iwi in obtaining access to the geographic mixed-use spectrum in their rohe for broadband or other uses. In addition there may be interest from national Māori groups in use of nationwide spectrum commercial mobile services. Both of these opportunities are facilitated by the overall band plan proposed in this paper.

While final decisions about the planning and allocation of both the proposed new nationwide spectrum and the geographic mixed-use spectrum will not be decided as a result of this paper, it is important to understand any Māori interest in use of these spectrum tranches to facilitate future planning.

Question 21

Do you envisage any requests by Māori interests for use of either the nationwide or geographic mixed-use tranches of spectrum?
Please identify potential uses and any specific technical issues associated with planning for such uses.

Question 22

Are there are any other issues not fully covered in Section 5 that you consider should be taken into account?
Please indicate these as specifically as possible with your response.