Hamilton to benefit from govenment's ultra-fast broadband announcement

Mayor Julie Hardaker is delighted by news Hamilton is one of the first cities to benefit from the government’s rollout of ultra-fast broadband (UFB).

An announcement today by Hon Steven Joyce, Minister for Communications and Information Technology, revealed that Crown Fibre Holdings had concluded negotiations with two key partners – Northpower Limited and Ultra Fast Fibre Limited, owned by WEL Networks – and that rollout of fibre in Hamilton, Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Tauranga, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Hawera, Tokoroa and Whangarei would get underway shortly.

Mayor Julie Hardaker said Hamilton will benefit significantly from the UFB rollout. “Not only will access to ultra-fast broadband have tremendous benefits for our schools, hospitals, businesses and homes but the rollout itself is expected to generate hundreds of new jobs for our region and WEL Networks which is great,” she said.

“It’s exciting to see our city seizing these sorts of opportunities and benefiting from landmark initiatives such as this.”

Northpower is due to commence its roll out of fibre in Whangarei before Christmas, while Ultra Fast Fibre Limited would begin laying fibre early in 2011. Both companies will complete their rollouts by 2015.

The UFB initiative will see 75 per cent coverage of ultra-fast broadband across New Zealand by 2019