New Zealand's ultra-fast broadband project is 27 percent complete

More than a quarter, or 27 percent, of New Zealand's ultra-fast broadband (UFB) project has been completed, according to Amy Adams, New Zealand's Communications and Information Technology minister. 

As of the end of December, 40,630 premises were connected to the fiber network. It ended the year with a total of 363,109 premises passed.

The government also saw subscriber interest grow. During the last quarter, customer adoption rose by 40 percent, bringing the total number of fiber subscribers to 19,915.

A key constituent of the UFB are schools. Fiber has been installed to more than 2,000 schools and 39 of the country's rural schools can get up to 10 Mbps speeds.

Upon completion, the government said the UFB will enable 75 percent of the country access to a fiber to the premises (FTTP) connection.

By the end of 2015, the UFB will connect schools, hospitals and 90 percent of businesses in the coverage area. Homes and the remaining 10 percent of businesses will be connected by the end of 2019.

To drive more interest in the UFB and FTTP, New Zealand incumbent wireline provider Chorus introduced its "Welcome to Gigatown" competition last September. In 2015, the telco will provide one town with 1 Gbps broadband speeds.

For more:
- see the release

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