Published 26/05/2015

The rollout of Chorus' Ultra-Fast Broadband network in Nelson continues to make good progress, with the project now 50 per cent complete.

Latest figures show more than 13,500 households, businesses, schools and health facilities are now able to access UFB in Nelson.

About 1300 of these premises have a UFB service.

"It's great to see so many people in Nelson are already enjoying the benefits of UFB," Chorus General Manager of Infrastructure Ed Beattie says.

"UFB has the potential to transform Nelson's economy and the way it connects to the rest of the world.

"The benefits of a UFB-connected business are widespread. There is growth from improved productivity, lower travel costs, greater flexibility for people to work from home, lower network and ICT expenses, and savings from moving applications into the cloud.

"Another bonus is the ability to communicate more easily and efficiently with suppliers, customers and business partners on a global scale.

"We're already starting to see some of these benefits in Nelson. Businesses already connected to fibre are experiencing seamless cloud computing, they're sending large images and files, conducting meetings over smooth HD video conferencing and hosting multiple users and devices, all on the same Internet connection.

"UFB is also making a significant impact in Nelson homes, particularly with the rapid rise of online TV, high definition movies and gaming. UFB allows multiple users in a home to be connected to different devices, and streaming content all at once, with no buffering or loss of connectivity."

Chorus is building about 70 per cent of the UFB network throughout New Zealand in a public-private partnership with the Government.

Chorus has 24 areas around New Zealand where it is deploying the UFB network. 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.

Chorus' UFB build across New Zealand is about 40 per cent complete. This means about 439,000 households, businesses, schools and health facilities are now able to access fibre.

To date, Chorus has completed the UFB build work in Oamaru, Ashburton Blenheim and Taupo.

Across New Zealand, fibre uptake remains strong, with more than 56,000 premises now connected to a fibre service in UFB areas. Latest figures show March was the second biggest month to date for UFB connections.

For further information:

Nathan Beaumont
Stakeholder Communications Manager
Mobile: 021 243 8412
Email: nathan.beaumont@chorus.co.nz

Take a closer look
Map showing the progress of the UFB rollout in Nelson. Note that the dark blue area highlights where the UFB rollout has been completed. The light blue area shows where work is still to be completed
Take a closer look
UFB uptake rates among the towns and cities where Chorus is rolling out UFB
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