Western Bay Benefits from Broadband Rollout

Katikati, Maketu, Paengaroa, Te Puke, Omokoroa, Te Puna and Waihi Beach will all benefit from ultra-fast broadband (UFB) rollout announcements made today.

Chorus has announced it has reached an agreement with Crown Fibre Holdings to extend its ultra-fast broadband (UFB) rollout to a further 169 areas nationwide, including Maketu, Paengaroa, Te Puna and Waihi Beach in the Western Bay.

Hamilton-based Ultrafast Fibre (UFF) will roll out ultra-fast broadband to the other three Western Bay areas to benefit - Katikati, Te Puke and Omokoroa.

Western Bay Mayor Garry Webber says today's announcements are great news and reward for work that Council staff and Councillors have been doing to create a Digital Enablement Plan for the District over the past two-three years.

"We are absolutely delighted that our towns have been selected for the next rollout stage of the nationwide Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) Project.

In this day and age UFB is a fundamental part of everyday way of life, but for our predominantly small town and rural communities, it really helps with global connectivity. As the New Zealand economy is still primarily agricultural and horticultural, the many businesses we have behind the hedgerow UFB is a must-have for their businesses."

Today's announcement by Chorus will see an ultra-fast broadband (UFB) rollout to a further 169 areas extending from Taipa-Mangonui in Northland to Bluff in Southland. This will make fibre available to an additional 200,000-plus homes and businesses beyond the 1.1 million customers in Chorus' existing UFB rollout areas.

Chorus CEO Mark Ratcliffe said Chorus was delighted to be working with the Government to extend the reach of fibre broadband to so many new communities.

Fibre is undoubtedly the future of broadband. In the five and a half years that we've been building the UFB network and connecting homes and businesses to fibre we've seen a huge upsurge in demand.

We're particularly pleased to see many of the towns and areas soon to benefit from fibre are within the Government's Regional Growth Programme, helping to increase jobs, income and investment in regional New Zealand.

Ultrafast Fibre is owned through WEL Networks Ltd and Waipa Networks Ltd. UFF Chief Executive, William Hamilton says the expanded network footprint - which will reach a further 22,790 homes and businesses over the next few years - is eagerly anticipated by these communities and the Retail Service Providers who will offer them fibre broadband services.

We know smaller centres are very keen to access the same high-speed communication infrastructure as the big cities already do. Along with our partners, we are delighted to be recognised for our achievements to date and to now continue playing such an important part in expanding access to this fantastic opportunity for New Zealanders, says Mr Hamilton.

The Western Bay rollout is timed to occur between 2018-2022.

A list of the areas to benefit from today's announcement and timings can be found here.