Chorus picks Huawei for rural broadband gear

Huawei and Chorus have signed a deal which allows Chorus to use Huawei equipment for its rural broadband roll out.

The decision is more bad news for Alcatel-Lucent, Telecom's long-time network infrastructure partner.

Chorus, which was spun-off from Telecom on November 30, recently announced it had picked Ericsson as its fibre supplier for its urban Crown fibre roll-out (although Alcatel-Lucent was was still in the running to supply the layer 2 electronics to "light" the dark fibre).

It also marks the second recent big win for Huawei, which on November 7 was named as the layer 2 electronics provider for Ultrafast Fibre – a consortium led by lines company Wel Networks – that won UFB contracts covering Hamilton, Tauranga, Tokoroa, New Plymouth, Hawera, Wanganui, Te Awamutu and Cambridge.

The supply arrangement would allow Chorus, which completed demerger last month, to use Huawei’s coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) equipment, a layer 2 electronics technology Chorus said increased the data capacity of existing rural fibre optic cables to connect remote schools, roadside cabinets and cellular sites.

The equipment would help Chorus to increase the capacity on its existent network without needing to deploy additional fibre cables, general manager of network build Chris Dhyrberg said.

“Proven technologies such as these will help the Crown’s RBI investment go further extending the reach of world-class broadband beyond the agreed targets.”

Huawei chief executive Arthur Zhang said the deal represented another step forward for Huawei in New Zealand.

“We are committed to helping provide the entire country with access to better internet connectivity, and working with leading operators like Chorus helps us to achieve this.”

Telecom and Vodafone won a $300 million tender to upgrade broadband connections to rural homes. Most of the money for the project comes from a levy on all telecommunications companies.

Vodafone, which is handling the wireless leg of the rural rollout, has previously said it will work with its incumbent network equipement provider, Nokia Siemens.