In Portugal, an agreement on the deployment of NGN was signed by the Government and four key operators (Portugal Telecom, Sonaecom, Zon and Oni Communications) in January 200956 as one measure in a EUR 2.18 billion stimulus plan announced in December 2008 to boost the econ-omy. The open investment model of the Ministry of Economic Development of New Zealand is one example. In March 2009, the Ministry announced its plan to deliver ultra-fast broadband to 75% of New Zealand’s population by 2019.54 The Government has proposed the establishment of a Crown-owned investment company (“Crown Fibre Investment Co” or CFIC). CFIC will invest alongside the private sector as co-investors in regional fi bre companies to deploy fi bre optic network infrastructure in 25 towns and cities. CFIC will select local partners based on: 57 The Portuguese Government has commit-ted to opening up ducts for NGNs, more effi cient regulation, maintaining a centralized information system and providing a credit line for at least EUR 800 million.58 The Government hopes that the country’s main telecom operators would invest EUR 1 billion in NGN roll-out during 2009. The protocol is open to every telecoms operator and aims to take NGNs to some 1.5 million homes by end 2009. However, some operators are reluctant to invest immediately – for example, Vodafone Portu-gal The amount of additional fi bre coverage proposed; The proposed capital structure; Commercial viability of the proposal; Consistency with government objectives; and The partner’s track record. considers that, in its case, the required condi-tions to invest in NGNs are not yet met and has This model seeks to provide government investment on favourable terms, while minimizing state involve-ment not yet signed the agreement. 59 in commercial operations, which the New Timeframes for investment are critical. Indeed, the lags between the initial stimulus and the time for any investment to take place are signifi cant. It is not clear when the spending for such projects - and hence the stimulus to the economy - would ultimately occur (referred to as “an outside policy lag”). If economic Zealand Government believes that “the private sector is better-positioned to direct”.55 The Government has committed up to NZ$ 1.5 billion for the roll-out on the basis that it expects this amount to be at least matched by private sector investment. 50