A roll-out of a $75 million ultra fast broadband network will change the face of communications and business operations in the downtown and other commercial parts of Tauranga by the end of the year.
Communications and Information Technology Minister Steven Joyce kicked off the Tauranga project yesterday, saying the roll-out will transform the local economy - ultra fast broadband that connects the internet will bring real gains to schools, business, medical facilities and households.
The project is part of the government's initiative to invest $1.3 billion into delivering some of the fastest broadband in the world to 75 per cent of the population by the end of 2019. Tauranga is the fourth city to get under way, after Whangarei, Hamilton and Wanganui.
Fibre-optic cabling, enabling data to be transmitted at high speeds, is now being laid around the 11th Avenue commercial area and it will spread along the Cameron Rd spine to Greerton Village and down into the central business district.
Cabling will go into Sulphur Point and the Judea industrial area surrounding Birch Ave in December, completing the broadband network for central Tauranga.
The rest of the city, including Mount Maunganui and Papamoa, will be linked up by the end of 2015.
The roll-out, being managed in a joint venture between Crown Fibre Holdings and WEL Networks subsidiary Ultrafast Fibre, will eventually cover a local population of 118,000 including 2500 business premises, more than 530 medical and healthcare clinics and services, and 30 schools.