UFB uptake creeps up to 16%

More than 133,000 homes and businesses have now connected to ultra fast broadband.

The September quarterly report for the first phase of the UFB rollout shows almost 56% of the build is complete and more than 815,000 homes, schools and workplaces can now connect to the network.

Uptake currently sits at 16.4%, a slight improvement on June’s report (14.6%).

Minister Amy Adams has described the programme as making “great progress.”

“We’ve focused on schools, health centres and businesses as priority users, but we’re seeing rapid uptake among households too,” she said in a statement.

The rollout in Auckland and Wellington (both Chorus projects) still lags behind many other parts of New Zealand, sitting at 39% and 35% respectively.

Chorus [NZX: CNU] has blamed the Resource Management Act for some problems and implored the government to loosen the legislation. However, in a recent interview on NBR Radio, M2 general manager consumer Taryn Hamilton said the RMA only played a small role.

As for the regions, the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) says as of September 271,000 rural addresses could connect, while uptake sits at 35.6%.

More than 102,000 rural copper lines have been upgraded and 122 new towers are now ready for service, with a further 324 towers upgraded.

All rural hospitals are now able to connect and the government aims to reach all schools and 90% of businesses by the end of the year.

The RBI programme has been subject to eight independent audits, which Ms Adams says “which show the programme is meeting its targets and working as expected,” while another audit is currently underway.

“We’ve got a bold 2025 target of 99% of New Zealanders able to access peak speeds of at least 50 Mbps – which is a ten-fold increase on RBI peak speeds,” Ms Adams says. “I’m proud to be putting rural connectivity at the heart of our regional economy development strategy.”

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