Live, streamed games will be the mainstay transmission method for people wanting to see the games, turning the traditional Sky broadcast model on its head.
Spark corporate relations general manager Andrew Pirie described the move to internet transmission as a watershed moment for New Zealand to push connectivity to new levels.
He also points to three times the number of households having broadband than Sky boxes.
“But we do recognise there are people in remote rural areas who do not presently have access to broadband. We reach 90% of the population with broadband that is of streaming quality.”
Those areas are scattered across the country.
“We don’t have an exact figure, thousands, it may even be tens of thousands. This is a concern to us but we are very focused on what we can do between now and later next year.”
Significant funds abound to improve rural connectivity, with almost half a billion dollars put on the table in the past 12 months still to be fully spent.
Pirie pointed to the Rural Connectivity Group (RCG) comprising Spark, Vodafone and 2Degrees as playing a big part in helping push connectivity harder over coming months.
The group put $75 million into the pot to extend rural coverage.
Meantime, the Rural Broadband Initiative 2.0 br0ought $140m plus $270m put in by National before the election.
That amount alone is targeting 60,000 households in 190 small towns and 74,000 households are expected to benefit from RBI 2.0.
“On top of that we are also working with network providers like Chorus and wireless internet service providers (WISP) to see how we can work together better.”
Amuri.net director Chris Roberts said one of his concerns as a WISP operator, in North Canterbury is the capacity of the internet infrastructure to handle the loads such an event is likely to generate.
“Under RBI 2.0 we have been marching ahead with our upgrading. We are already seeing the Netflix effect come in with more people streaming online and moving from traditional viewing platforms. So, if they have Netflix now, watching the RWC that way is not a big change.
“But the biggest problem I can see is Spark pairing up with other network providers, being able to deliver it to people who are not Spark customers.”
He pointed to the significant investment Netflix has made in servers to ensure a seamless service provision.
“They require what are known as pairing exchanges but no one has really said how this is going to be done for RWC.”
But Pirie said Spark will be engaging closely with all WISPs on the best ways to get the network operating seamlessly.
“There is also a lot of new technology out there we will be calling on including multiplexing that allows many to tap into one source.”
He acknowledged there might well still be rural areas come September 2019 short on broadband speed.
“In those cases, and we will know where they are, we would consider some temporary infrastructure. It could involve tapping into a connectivity point at the local school for example.”
The worst-case option would be using satellite connections but they are constrained by cost and data caps.
Pirie agreed, given the demand the event will put on infrastructure, a trial run before the tournament is a good possibility.
WISP Association spokesman Ernie Newman said the WRC provides a superb aspirational target to boost the rate of connectivity throughout rural NZ.
“Let’s use RWC 2019 to get to 100% streaming quality broadband through NZ. It’s a good goal and may be impossible to achieve but it could close the gap quicker.”
He encouraged rural communities struggling to get big telcos engaged to talk to WISPs that specialise in community-specific services, often using the input of land and resources provided by those communities.
