Pahiatua Fibre Christmas

Tararua District Council’s drive to provide world-class broadband in its district has now extended to Pahiatua.

Fresh from the history making triumph of dragging “fibre to farm” in rural Mangamaire north of Eketahuna, Pahiatua now has a livened fibre optic broadband connection for Christmas.

The project which has the capacity to propel Tararua into a wonderland of superfast technology is a joint initiative between Inspire Net, Digital Nation, FX Networks and the council.

The superfast two way connection starts at 100 mega bits per second or about five to 20 times faster for downloads and vastly faster than the latest copper line technology, ADSL2+.

In addition, Pahiatua now has a base from which people wanting to connect to fibre can develop business case to “buy in”. The town cost of connecting can vary from $25 to $250 per metre, “so it is quite challenging.”

The initiative has drawn praise from the associated companies.

“Inspire Net is excited to be part of an opportunity to enable world class broadband in the Tararua district,” general manager of Inspire Net Keith Linforth said.

Director of Digital Nation James Watt said “Tararua is a council that was leading the way to provide high speed connectivity to its community and ratepayers.”

Mr Watts believes “people are only just beginning to understand the implications of what a real broadband connection can really do”.

In a bid to further extend the service Tararua District Council now has a full application to Government for extending the network to more schools and health centres.

As Peter Wimsett points out, “It’s to do with saving lives, the future of our children, businesses and lifestyle.

“ It’s actually about the 2002 Local Government Act requirement to provide economic and social well beings to your district.”

Contact Peter Wimsett, Manager Corporate Services

Telephone (06) 374 4080