Making connections

Inclusion is important in closing the digital divide in our communities.

- Peter Griffin

To the long list of things you will pay more for this year, you can add broadband and technology products. Broadband wholesalers Enable and Tuatahi First Fibre, which sell fibre-optic services to internet providers, have signalled they will put their prices up between 4 and 5.9% in the next year.

Chorus, the biggest broadband wholesaler, will announce its price increase in July. It’s likely to be at a similar level, in line with the 5.9% rise in the consumers price index (CPI) for 2021. Those increases are modest compared with the jump in the price of petrol, even with the temporary removal of fuel excise duty.

Rising interest rates clearly hit families hardest, potentially adding hundreds of dollars a month in extra mortgage repayment costs. But broadband access at home is pretty important these days. Some countries have even declared internet access a basic human right. It keeps families connected, educated and entertained.