Kim Dotcom will use any cash generated from his lawsuits to revive a defunct $400 million fiber cable project.
Kim Dotcom, who recently announced Mega as a successor to his site Megaupload, has come up with a cunning plan to provide free broadband internet to New Zealand. Dotcom claims that he’ll fund this $400 million project with proceeds from lawsuits he intends to lodge against Hollywood studios and the US Government, for what he describes as the “unlawful and political destruction of my [Megaupload] business.”
The cable project – which had been proposed and then dropped by defunct company Pacific Fibre because it couldn’t find funding – would double New Zealand’s bandwidth. Dotcom’s unconventional proposal has already received some cautious backing from Labour’s Communications and IT spokesperson, Clare Curran, who said that the idea was worth consideration.
“The sentiment is right,” said Curran, making no mention of Dotcom’s tactics. “Kiwi businesses, particularly in the technology sector, have been calling for a second cable for some time now. Their concerns need to be taken seriously.”
Dotcom claims that the cable project is vital to New Zealand’s future prosperity, and says that – if successful – the broadband provided will be free of charge to individual users, a move supported in part by charging business and government. In addition to cash from lawsuits, Dotcom hopes that his new company Mega will be able to invest in the cable.
“Unfortunately the current Government wants to invest into more tarmac roads,” said Dotcom. “In ten to fifteen years most people will work and shop from home. You don’t need tarmac, you need fiber!”
Source: New Zealand Herald
Published: Nov 5, 2012 03:37 pm