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News

• Ultra-Fast Broadband in 190 more towns

  The Government has announced it will bring forward the completion of the UFB2 rollout by two years

• New Zealand ranked 30th for Internet download speeds

  New Zealand has been ranked 30th in a global ‘league table’ of average broadband download speeds compiled by UK broadband, TV and phone comparator, Cable.co.uk.

• Broadband Compare: From comparison to competition

  Broadband Compare, a web site that enables New Zealanders to compare different broadband plans, has celebrated its first birthday by announcing plans to offer broadband plans itself in collaboration with some ISPs.

• Government funding to boost Canterbury broadband and agriculture

  The government is to provide $1.6 million funding to the Canterbury region to support a goal of having 95 percent of farmers in the region connected to broadband services and to boost the value of agricultural production in the region.

• Wholesale broadband price cuts passed on to consumers

  ​The Commerce Commission has released a study that shows 90 percent of the recent reductions in Chorus’ regulated wholesale broadband prices have flowed through to consumers.

• Spark taps Nokia for core network upgrade

  Spark is to upgrade its core infrastructure under a three-year strategic partnership with Nokia that will include the supply by Nokia of its 7250 Interconnect Router R6 (IXR-R6) to “address capacity and embrace architectural evolution on the path to 5G, ultra-broadband and IoT,” according to Nokia.

• Ericsson sees opportunities for local mobile app developers

  Ericsson says there is an opportunity for smartphone application developers in New Zealand because only 15 percent of the top 100 smartphone apps used by New Zealanders are locally developed.

• Taranki school students get to study Wi-Fi

  ​PrimoWireless, (which operates a wireless broadband network for internet access in the Taranaki area), Massey University and New Plymouth Girls’ and Boys’ high schools have secured funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Curious Mind's Participatory Science Platform to investigate wireless connectivity in the region.

• Telecommunications reforms finalised

  Communications minister Simon Bridges has revealed final details of the Government’s telecommunications reforms, expected to come into force from 2020, saying they will introduce a more predictable utility-style model for Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) fibre, deregulate copper lines where fibre is available, and improve the quality of service for consumers by increasing regulatory oversight.

• 2degreess turns in first profit

  2degrees has reported its first profit, for the year ending December 31 2016, saying it doubled the size of its fixed broadband subscriber base during the year, albeit from a small base: it was only the first full year for the service.

• How the power of sports content killed the Voda/Sky merger

  The Commerce Commission has given its full statement of reasons for blocking the planned merger of Vodafone NZ and Sky saying it believes the merged entity’s power over premium sports content would kill competition in both the fixed broadband and mobile markets.

• Ultrafast Fibre moves IT into Dimension Data’s cloud

  Ultrafast Fibre, which owns and operates the Ultrafast Broadband network in Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Taranaki, has chosen Dimension Data’s managed cloud facility in Hamilton to host all its data and applications.

• Power companies empowered to install broadband fibre on rural properties

  ​Labour and other Opposition parties are claiming credit for new legislation that they say could accelerate the deployment of broadband fibre in rural areas and is “a game changer to enable immediate regional development opportunities for all of rural New Zealand.”

• Dunedin proves its ‘Gigatown’ status with triple-speed broadband

  ​According to data from Chorus, Dunedin – which in 2013 became New Zealand’s first Gigatown – is well ahead of the rest of the country in broadband speeds with an average bandwidth of 196Mbps, more than three times that of the next fastest centre.

• Aird Towers seeks RBI-2 funding for operator-agnostic tower network

  Christchurch and Brisbane based tower leasing company, Aird Towers, has submitted a proposal to Crown Fibre Holdings for the expansion of broadband and mobile coverage throughout New Zealand under the RBI-2 and mobile black spots programmes.