It has been a busy past two weeks with major Māori initiatives and developments by New Zealand telcos and associated parties. This is a summary of those initiatives with an explanation of who the Māori groups are.
2 Degrees
2Degrees Mobile announced a Te Reo Maori smart phone, the IDEOS X3 , while at the Te Huarahi Tika Trust annual general meeting in Auckland. While I am somewhat sceptical about the motivation, it is certainly a bonus for any Māori language speakers on 2Degrees who need a new phone. It will also probably attract some new customers from other telcos.
2Degrees Mobile also announced in conjunction with its founding shareholder, Te Hautaki Trust, that they have launched Hei Rere Mai (‘So You Can Fly’), a programme to increase Māori participation in the telecommunications industry.
Vodafone
Vodafone announced that it will extend its existing graduate programme by allocating five places to Māori graduates.
Te Huarahi Tika Trust
Te Huarahi Tika Trust made a statement and submission to government that the 700MHz spectrum allocation, rather than an auction it suggests that the Trust gets 15MHz (paired), and 10MHz each goes to the three telcos.
Karaitiana Taiuru
I released “A recommendation for an updated New Zealand and Māori Predictive TXT database” research and recommendations to update the Telecom New Zealand Maori predictive text database and to promote the use of the list to other telcos. I sent the suggestion to all the New Zealand telcos and made the list public so that any telco can use it. Only Telecom New Zealand replied.
About the Māori teclo representative groups
Te Huarahi Tika Trust a Māori interest group in telecommunications which was set up to manage a portion of spectrum used for 3G services. It advises its commercial arm Hautaki Ltd which is the part owner of 2Degrees Mobile. This was made possible as part of the government treaty settlement of Māori spectrum claim.
Its Trustees are: Daphne Luke – Chair, Mavis Mullins , Neville Baker , Sir Graham Latimer, Anthony Turoa Royal, Maui Solomon, Jacqui Te Kani.
Nga Pu Waea, a government group set up to advise on Māori interests and development opportunities in broadband, and work to ensure that marae, kohanga kura, wananga, iwi runanga and Māori health and social service providers benefit from the roll-out of broadband to rural areas. Its seven members who are elected for a term of three years are: Jeremy Gardner, Daphne Luke, Mavis Mullins, Haami Piripi, Antony Royal, Tuwhakairiora Williams and Richard Orzecki.
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