Guest post: Breaking the political broadband barrier

Reader Ann makes a perfect point about National's broadband boondoogle:

    One of National's promises was the faster broadband network. Way up north in Whangarei of all places, they're soon going to have (supposedly) the fastest broadband in the country. [Story here.] This is due to Telstra Clear and a company called Northpower, who are installing that super-cool, ultra-fast fibre whatsit network to help make their company more effective, and had the brains to make it much larger than their requirements, leasing the excess back to an ISP, and from there, to consumers in the CBD. 
    A great example of a private company getting off its arse and doing something rather than sitting back for the government to come along and fix things with a magic wand - usually a fucked up inefficient magic wand that takes years to get going, and gets tied up with red tape and regulation anyway.

Not to mention the courage it takes to invest in broadband when the whole area is a already a combination of political football and electoral bribe.  Good job, and good post.