Auckland, Wellington lag as Bridges updates on UFB rollout
PLUS: The laggard cities
More than three-quarters of the build for phase one of the government’s Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) programme is complete, Communications Minister Simon Bridges says.
The latest Broadband Deployment report from MBIE, for the March quarter, says 1,132,000 households and businesses had access to fibre as of March 31 – or 4% ahead of schedule.
And after a slow start, UFB update is increasing. Of those within reach of UFB fibre, 33.58% have chosen to connect. In June last year, that figure sat at 23.9%.
Phase one of the build is now complete in 22 cities and towns.
However, some of the larger centres are lagging.
The rollout in Auckland (where Chorus holds the UFB contract) is only 59% complete.
Wellington is only 56% complete.
The government recently announced UFB 2, under which $310 million has been earmarked to expand the fibre rollout from 70% to 85% of the population.
Chorus, which is responsible for most UFB 1 work, also won the lion's share of UFB2 funding.
The network operator has suffered long delays with many UFB installations but earlier this week said it had made progress with service delivery.
An extension to the free UFB installation period, and a "deemed consent" legislative tweak to speed installationss in right-of-way and apartment situations has also helped.
Chris Keall
Tue, 13 Jun 2017
Tue, 13 Jun 2017
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Auckland, Wellington lag as Bridges updates on UFB rollout
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