Computerworld

​Christchurch better enabled as broadband connections surpass 100,000

Enable builds fibre broadband network to almost 60 percent of its coverage area.

Enable has now built its fibre broadband network to 104,000 homes and businesses in Christchurch, Waimakariri and Selwyn, representing almost 60 percent of its coverage area.

According to the local fibre provider, this is an increase in network reach of almost 35,000 potential customers in the 2015 calendar year.

“Today our services are available to families in brand new subdivisions on the western edge of Rolleston, to schools across Rangiora in the north and to the Sumner business community in the far east,” says Steve Fuller, CEO, Enable.

“Including thousands of local individuals, businesses, schools, hospitals and community organisations in between.”

Fuller says Enable has now reached the half-way mark in its original eight year deployment timeframe but has delivered fibre broadband capability to “well more than half” its local community.

“The network build acceleration in the last 18 months represents a remarkable effort from the Enable build team and from our partner, Broadspectrum New Zealand - formerly Transfield Services New Zealand - who have been working together under a Network Delivery Alliance (NDA) since early 2014,” he adds.

On top of possessing a wide reaching fibre broadband network, Fuller says Enable enters 2016 with almost 18,000 customers connected to its fibre broadband services.

“We’ve seen another step change in the number of people in our community making the switch to fibre broadband,” he adds.

“We now receive over 2,000 orders per month - and will be connecting around 100 customers a day early in the New Year.”

In addition, Fuller says Enable continues to see “very strong uptake” of fibre broadband services in the residential market.

“We’ve got communities like Rolleston above 45 percent uptake - soon every second house will be on fibre,” he adds.

“More and more kiwi families are consuming more and more online entertainment content - Netflix, Lightbox, etc - and high quality, fibre broadband is now a necessity.”

Business

Fuller says Enable has also enjoyed “very strong growth” in the business market in the last six months, where fibre broadband orders have nearly doubled to almost 300 per month.

“Growth in business uptake is incredibly satisfying to see,” he adds.

“It is one area where our community can really benefit from the investment in fibre broadband - through businesses embracing the technology and online services to increase productivity or even transform business models to create new jobs.

“Local businesses are really embracing cloud services - moving away from hardware in the office that costs money to manage and is vulnerable, and fibre connectivity is critical to this move.

“Other businesses are reaching or extending deeper into new markets with communication and collaboration tools that need good quality connectivity - such as sales demonstrations over video conference.

“There are a lot of opportunities for businesses once they are on fibre.”