Chorus has today announced it has finished building its Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) network in Blenheim.
Chorus today joined Communications Minister Amy Adams, Kaikoura MP Stuart Smith and Marlborough Mayor Alistair Sowman at an event in Blenheim to celebrate the completion of the project.
Blenheim is the third town in New Zealand to have its fibre network completed under Chorus’ UFB programme.
The completion of the project in Blenheim means about 12,500 houses, businesses, schools and health facilities are now able to access fibre.
“As one of the first towns to be completed by Chorus, Blenheim is now in the enviable position of getting a head start on the rest of New Zealand,” says Ed Beattie, General Manager of Infrastructure, Chorus.
“UFB has the potential to transform New Zealand’s economy, our communities, and the way we connect to the rest of the world, so we’re really looking forward to seeing how the Blenheim community can best take advantage of having world-class connectivity right on their door step.
“To help the Blenheim community make the most of fibre, Chorus is taking the next step of working with the local council, communities and the industry to build excitement around the benefits fibre can deliver for residents and businesses.”
BP Computers manager Brad Clark says UFB has opened doors for the Blenheim business.
“With the ever increasing bandwidth requirements spurred by the explosion of cloud computing services, increased file sizes, and the performance requirements of our remote management operations, UFB has been pivotal in allowing our business to grow and perform,” he says.
“UFB has enabled us to reliably provide our services right across New Zealand while at the same time lowering our total communications bill.”
About 14 per cent of eligible users in Blenheim have already signed up for a fibre service – the highest uptake rate in New Zealand among the towns and cities Chorus is rolling out UFB to.
Chorus is building about 70 per cent of the UFB network in a public-private partnership with the Government.
Chorus has 24 areas around New Zealand where it is deploying the UFB network and all up, Chorus’ UFB network will run past more than 830,000 homes, businesses, schools and health facilities throughout the country by the end of 2019.