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freitasm

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#144138 8-May-2014 14:32
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Just received:


Whangarei New Zealand’s first fully-fibred city

Whangarei has today become the first city in New Zealand to be fully-fibred under the Government’s Ultra-Fast Broadband initiative, Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams has announced.

Ms Adams today joined Prime Minister John Key at Manaia View School in Whangarei - the place where the UFB initiative first kicked off in December 2010 - to celebrate the completion of the project.
“I want to congratulate Northpower for completing the roll out of UFB in Whangarei. As the first fully-fibred city in New Zealand, Whangarei is in the enviable position of getting a head start on the rest of the country.

“Thanks to this government initiative, thousands of people in the Whangarei community now have access to fibre, including 1700 businesses, 200 healthcare providers, 26 schools and two hospitals.

“The adoption of fibre will bring many benefits to the Whangarei community.

“For example, schools now have access to the latest technology and students are able to take part in virtual classrooms and courses that might not be available at their own school.

“Teachers at Manaia View School say learning over UFB has also improved numeracy and literacy and greatly increased student engagement. Students are even coming to school early to use the UFB network.

“The Whangarei economy will have greater opportunities to become a hub of innovation. In particular, fibre-enabled applications and services, such as cloud computing and Telecomferencing facilities, will make it easier for Whangarei companies to do business with the rest of the world.

“And, faster broadband offers the potential to deliver healthcare in new and innovative ways, including by enabling remote consultation and the rapid transfer of medical records and images.”

Ms Adams has today also released the latest quarterly report on the Government’s UFB and rural broadband programmes.

An additional 57,000 end users gained access to fibre over the three months to 31 March 2014.

This means more than 420,000 end users are now able to connect to the UFB network in 29 towns and cities across New Zealand.

Under the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI), more than 187,000 rural homes and businesses now have access to fast wireless broadband, and over 66,000 rural homes and businesses have access to improved copper broadband services.

More than 2100 schools now have fibre installed and ready for service.

In addition, 40 of the most remote rural schools in New Zealand have received access to broadband capable of peak speeds of at least 10 megabits per second (about four times faster than previous services).

Over the last quarter, the number of customers signing up to a service under the UFB programme has jumped by about 37 per cent, taking the total number to more than 27,000.

This is in line with government expectations and overseas experiences at this stage of deployment, when there is still nearly six more years to complete the UFB build.




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CYaBro
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  #1039132 8-May-2014 14:50
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Yes! tongue-out




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wellygary
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  #1039159 8-May-2014 15:20
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Bet ya they won't release the residential take up rate in Whangarei thou :).....

Lorenceo
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  #1039229 8-May-2014 16:34
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Meanwhile in Auckland.


:(



Beccara
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  #1039237 8-May-2014 16:43
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wellygary: Bet ya they won't release the residential take up rate in Whangarei thou :).....


Uptake is well above expectation's in both biz and res




Most problems are the result of previous solutions...

All comment's I make are my own personal opinion and do not in any way, shape or form reflect the views of current or former employers unless specifically stated 

Coil
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  #1039238 8-May-2014 16:46
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Whangarei's network is primarily on the power poles. Chorus is laying it in the ground in a larger area.
But good job Northpower! Beers for them i bet!

Coil
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  #1039239 8-May-2014 16:47
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CYaBro: Yes! tongue-out


You got fibre to work? My Dad at Barfoot and Thomson is getting it soon.

Behodar
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  #1039258 8-May-2014 16:52
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wellygary: Bet ya they won't release the residential take up rate in Whangarei thou :).....

1500/19000, although that's total rather than residential.

 
 
 

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solaybro
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  #1039260 8-May-2014 16:54
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wellygary: Bet ya they won't release the residential take up rate in Whangarei thou :).....


Wasn't John Key planning a copper tax to force people over to fiber?

nigelj
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  #1039283 8-May-2014 17:25
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I was actually going to post the "We'll be announcing full deployment in a couple of days" PR bit the other day (link), but since they didn't include a couple of the real interesting bits in this PR bit, might as well:

A sign at Whangarei airport welcomes visitors to the first Ultra-Fast Fibre Broadband city in New Zealand. It’s not an empty claim – in 2007, Northpower was the first company to begin a full-scale fibre broadband roll-out, and three years later Crown Fibre Holdings awarded it the Ultra-Fast Broadband contract for the city.


It is also an example of what can be achieved when local bodies – in this case Northpower, the Whangarei District Council, the Northland Regional Council, Northland Inc, the Northland Chamber of Commerce and Northpower Fibre – work together for a common goal. Graham Dawson, Northpower General Manager Network, spearheaded the project from the start. He says cooperation between all the bodies has been a “critical success factor” in completing the roll-out on time and below budget. “It was such a big project that everyone had to work it through together. We all knew that Northland had terrible broadband. Right from the start the councils recognised there was a huge potential benefit for Whangarei in getting fast fibre ahead of the rest of the country. But it meant everyone had to work together and be accommodating.” In one example, Northpower Fibre agreed to lay cables in the CBD at night to minimise disruption to people using the city centre; in another the Whangarei District Council relaxed permitting regulations to allow Northpower almost instant access across city footpaths when customers wanted to connect to the fibre backbone. It was a move that saved “several million dollars” in roll-out costs and cut the total time for the project by up to 20%, Graham says.


Overall, UFB take-up is the highest in the country – over 8%, compared to a national average of 5.5% in December 2013. However, Mike says in some business areas of the city, 32% of premises are hooked up with fast broadband.
... and I must say, as a group of companies, Northpower seem to be really on the ball and do deserve a good pat on the back for what they've done in Whanarei, their overhead deployment around Kamo looks unobtrusive (although really it's only a one or two extra 'cables' in the jungle up there already), and from what I saw when travelling up there a few times especially along Kamo Road (old SH1)/Whau Valley they did do a quite a lot of undergrounding of the fibre as well with little disruption.

CYaBro
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  #1039295 8-May-2014 17:55
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TimA:
CYaBro: Yes! tongue-out


You got fibre to work? My Dad at Barfoot and Thomson is getting it soon.


Yes we've had it for about 3 & 1/2 years!
I would get it home if I could but unfortunately we live rural.
Highly recommend that your dad talks to UberGroup for the fibre.




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PhantomNVD
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  #1040433 8-May-2014 23:11
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Now how do we get Waikato Council to the same superb purpose-driven standard?? :(

CYaBro
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  #1040456 9-May-2014 00:40
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CYaBro:
TimA:
CYaBro: Yes! tongue-out


You got fibre to work? My Dad at Barfoot and Thomson is getting it soon.


Yes we've had it for about 3 & 1/2 years!
I would get it home if I could but unfortunately we live rural.
Highly recommend that your dad talks to UberGroup for the fibre.


Edit:  Just noticed that you work at Vodafone TimA.
Can Vodafone supply businesses with fibre in Whangarei yet?




Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.


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