Published 26/05/2015

Two months after Chorus completed the Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) build in Ashburton, demand for a fibre service continues to grow.

Latest figures show 1116 Ashburton households, businesses, schools and health facilities have a UFB service - the sixth highest rate in the country among the areas where Chorus is rolling out UFB.

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

"UFB has the potential to transform Ashburton'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 Ashburton. 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 Ashburton 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.

As well as Ashburton, Chorus has also completed UFB build work in Oamaru, 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.

ENDS


For further information:

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

Take a closer look
Uptake rates among the towns and cities where Chorus is rolling out UFB
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