Kia ora Sam Brown,
 
On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I
acknowledge your email of 6/01/2026 requesting, under the Official
Information Act 1982, the following:
 
Under the Official Information Act 1982, I request:

1. Any analysis of economic or resilience implications if terrestrial
telecommunications infrastructure in rural areas is abandoned due to
market dynamics, including assessment of whether such infrastructure can
be economically rebuilt if subsequently needed.

2. Any advice regarding whether maintaining multiple technology platforms
(terrestrial and satellite) serves resilience, redundancy, or strategic
interests, versus consolidating on single satellite-based approach.

3. Any assessment of 'path dependency' risks where short-term policy
decisions create irreversible market structure changes that constrain
future options or create long-term consumer harm.

4. Any advice to Ministers on whether government should actively preserve
infrastructure diversity in essential services markets, or whether
allowing market concentration through competitive dynamics is acceptable
for telecommunications.

5. Any analysis of whether terrestrial infrastructure, once economically
abandoned, represents permanently lost optionality for:
   * Future competition if satellite pricing rises
   * Redundancy during satellite service disruptions
   * Data sovereignty and local routing of internet traffic
   * Regional economic development and local employment

Context: I am concerned that current market dynamics may result in
irreversible loss of terrestrial rural telecommunications infrastructure,
and seeking to understand whether government has assessed implications of
this potential outcome.
 
We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible, and no
later than 13/02/2026, being 20 working days after the day your request
was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will
notify you of an extension of that timeframe. Please note that the days
from 25 December 2025 to 15 January 2026 (inclusive) are defined as
non-working days in the Act and are not counted in the calculation for the
response due date. This will affect the time period for responding to your
request. If you have any enquiries regarding your request feel free to
contact us via email to [1][MBIE request email].
 
Nāku noa, nā
Ministerial Services
Strategy and Assurance
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 |  P O Box 1473 Wellington 6140

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[MBIE request email]