Labour’s foreign ban will block 5G mobile rollout!

The Herald reports:

Spark New Zealand says the Government’s planned foreign property buyer ban will “significantly impact” its expansion and development plans.

Spark, with more than 3 million customers, told Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Select Committee that 25 per cent or more of its shares are owned by overseas entities.

So it would be captured by the Overseas Investment Amendment Bill which American billionaire and Tara Iti links course developer Ric Kayne of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors says might change his expansion plans in New Zealand.

Spark told the committee it was a proud New Zealand organisation but it would be classified as an “overseas person” by the law if the law changes were enacted to ban foreigners getting residential and lifestyle land.

Yet Spark needs more of those properties to carry out its business here, it says.

“For example, in its current form the bill would require Spark to obtain Overseas Investment Office consent every time we acquire an interest in land, whether purchasing or leasing, for the purposes of providing telecommunications services, in order to install a new cell site or negotiate a new leasing arrangement on a current cell site, if that cell site is on land that is classed as residential land.

So this daft bill would require NZ’s largest telecommunications company to get special permission from the Government everytime it wants to purchase or lease some land to put up a cellphone tower!

“This is not a trivial matter: right now our mobile sector is preparing for the advent of 5G technology, which will fundamentally revolutionise multiple sectors within New Zealand’s economy, through the use of artificial intelligence, robotics and automation. 5G will be a key enabler of more effective and efficient utility network management, transport network and vehicle management and will open up new frontiers in agri-business, industrial traceability and sustainability management.

“But in order for us to be able to deliver the real-time, low-latency, network coverage required by 5G, we will require many more cell sites than exist in New Zealand today – any many of those new sites will likely be in residential or lifestyle areas,” Spark’s submission said.

So Labour’s stupidity will see 5G mobile technology much harder to roll out.

It is not just telcos caught up in the idiocy. ACT lists other sectors impacted:

• Electricity companies setting up substations
• Telcos doing cellphone towers
• Retirement villages
• Mining companies
• Apartment Developers
• Bunnings