Aardvark Daily

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Make money with UFB?

Here in NZ, our attempts to participate in the global economy have, for more than a century, been thwarted by our remoteness.

No matter what products we made, the cost of shipping them off to far-away places always put us at a disadvantage. Indeed, if it weren't for the breakthrough of refrigerated shipping, we'd still be a very poor nation without any real ability to get many of our key exports to their target markets before they spoiled.

But now it's 2013 and things have changed -- a lot!

Over the next few years, NZ will find itself surfing the crest of a (knowledge) wave and right up there at the cutting edge of high-speed connectivity.

Huge swathes of the business community and a majority of regular folk will find themselves with access to mind-numbingly fast internet access, thanks to fibre-based UFB.

Okay, so here we are with the greatest tool of the 21st century (so far). How are we going to use that tool to boost the nation's wealth and a better standard of living for everyone in NZ?

So far, the best the government seems to be able to come up with is the promise that we'll be able to download HD movies in the blink of an eye.

What the?

Since most movies are made by offshore concerns, these "blink of an eye" downloads will do little but further impoverish the nation -- by effectively encouraging hard-working Kiwis to swap their hard-earned money for the cyber-world equivalent of blankets and beads (transient downloads of movie dross).

Why bother delivering this powerful 21st century capability to the hands of NZ's businesses and population without some kind of strategy for turning that massive investment of public money into an "earner" for the nation?

Where are the initiatives to incentivise, educate and train Kiwi companies and individuals in the ideas and techniques that could allow them to leverage that hyper-fast connectivity to start or expand their activities into areas that would earn export dollars?

Might it be that we're just a bunch of dullards -- bereft of decent ideas to use this connectivity in a positive way?

I prefer to discount that possibility and instead, I'd like to see some brainstorming within Aardvark's readership (and wider) so as to come up with a list of ideas that would enable businesses and entrepreneurial individuals to build some enterprises with real export-earning potential, around their UFB connection.

I've got a few ideas of my own -- and my not unimpressive YouTube presences are another example of how Kiwis can take advantage of their Net connections for the benefit of the nation.

However, I suspect that the real "killer concept" will be something totally new and, as yet, not yet thought of.

In order to clarify things, perhaps we ought to look at what we (as a nation) will have going in our favour...

Firstly, as already stated, there'll be the super-fast connection that UFB offers.

Secondly, we're 12-21 hours ahead of the world's major markets, thanks to our position right alongside the international date line.

Thirdly, we're a nation that makes heavy use of renewable energy sources such as hydro and geothermal power stations.

And, despite what Dr Michael Cullen may have thought, we *are* a nation of clever folk with some pretty damned smart ideas and the tenacity required to develop those ideas in spite of government interference and obstruction.

So how can we tie all these strengths together into a service or product that not only creates a new market which the world will really want, but also delivers us a competitive edge that will make it hard for others to simply steal that market?

As usual, I *do* have a bunch of ideas and over the coming weeks/months, I'll float some of them through this column.

If there are readers out there who already have, or will soon have UFB connectivity and might be interested in getting "in the loop" on some of these ideas, drop me a line.

Perhaps it's time we showed our own government and the rest of the world that we can pick up this ball and run with it.

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