Telecom New Zealand begins building out its portion of UFB network

Telecom New Zealand's infrastructure unit Chorus has begun work on its portion of the New Zealand government's Ultra Fast Broadband network initially targeting the Albany suburb in Auckland.

Over the course of the next year, about 17,000 homes and business in Auckland will be connected to the UFB fiber network.

Steven Joyce, New Zealand's Communications and IT minister, said in a statement that the UFB initiative will bring fiber-based broadband services to "50,000 homes around the country as well as to schools, hospitals and businesses."

This latest development comes after Crown Fibre Holdings (CFH), the government agency in charge of managing the UFB initiative, announced in May that Telecom New Zealand was awarded contracts to build out network infrastructure to 24 urban areas, including Auckland and Wellington.

This latest development follows Ultra Fast Broadband Limited's move to begin construction on the first section of fiber cable in Hamilton, NZ in July. UFBL was previously awarded a contract to roll out fiber-based network services to 163,000 premises in Hamilton, Tauranga, Wanganui, New Plymouth, Hawera and Tokoroa.

For more:
- TeleGeography has this article

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