Telecom has announced it has signed a wholesale agreement with Enable to provide retail UFB services in Christchurch. The news comes less than a week after Orcon's announcement of pricing plans for its retail UFB services using Chorus' fibre network.
The agreement would see Telecom and Gen-i providing UFB services to Christchurch residents and businesses.
Telecom has not announced any pricing or data plan details yet, but will be "trialling" a residential service shortly, according to a spokesperson.
Gen-i said its pricing will be formulated in the same manner it is currently, on a contract by contract basis for its enterprise customers.
Gen-i CEO Chris Quin says this announcement will benefit businesses in Christchurch looking to technology to help them rebuild.
“With the rollout of UFB across New Zealand, businesses are looking for ICT solutions that use fibre to increase productivity and innovation, deliver flexibility and robustness, and generally be as efficient as possible," says Quin.
“They are looking for help to develop solutions that harness fibre’s capabilities to deliver exciting new applications in areas such as cloud, mobility, video and collaboration."
Enable is the government's partner in delivering its $1.5 billion UFB initiative to Christchurch.
Chorus, which was previously a part of Telecom, is also laying infrastructure in Christchurch. Some analysts speculate that Chorus could possibly look at buying up Enable "five to six years down the track".