Published 26/05/2015

The rollout of Chorus' Ultra-Fast Broadband network in Wellington continues to make good progress, with the project now about 33 per cent complete.

Latest figures show about 58,000 households, businesses, schools and health facilities are now able to access UFB in Wellington.

More than 7000 of these Wellington premises now have a UFB service.

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

"UFB has the potential to transform Wellington'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 Wellington. 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 Wellington 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 Wellington. 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. More detailed maps of the Wellington region are available on request
Take a closer look
UFB uptake rates among the towns and cities where Chorus is rolling out UFB
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