Reaction to the news that Telecom and Vodafone have secured the Rural Broadband Contract has been mixed.

The joint telco giants succeeded in the tender for the government’s rural high speed internet initiative on Monday, and it was announced that discussions were taking place this week.

Federated Farmers President Don Nicolson said that his organisation’s concerns around pricing are still unaddressed as they await the details of the initiative.

Communications and IT Minister Steven Joyce, however, says the discussions so far with the telcos have been encouraging.

"We are looking to get them signed by the end of this current quarter which is the end of march, presuming everything goes according to plan and then we can get under way pretty quickly after that.

"With all these sorts of negations, you’ve got to allow a bit of time for a bit of toing-and-froing but that’s certainly the aspiration of the ministry to get it nailed out by the end of March."

Steven Joyce says Fed’s pricing concerns have been addressed and an announcement will be made soon.

"No price is on the table except I have been clear about what they are not.

"A few people were throwing a few numbers around yesterday which were wrong so I had to pour some cold water on that but as soon as possible those prices will be there.

"It’s an exercise that we are confident will have competitive prices."

The Minister says he expects contracts to be drawn up and signed by the end of March, giving everyone a good timeline to work with.

For more on what the Rural Broadband initiative will mean for you, head to the RBI details page at the Ministry of Economic Development, here.