Business keen on ultra fast broadband

Ultra fast broadband (UFB) looks set to be popular with business, suggests a survey carried out by Crown Fibre Holdings and the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand (TUANZ).

More than 280 businesses responded to the survey, which was carried out in October.

When asked about their likelihood to connect to UFB within a year of it being available, 82 percent of all respondents said they were likely, highly likely or definitely would connect.

Respondents said that key areas where improved speeds and data capacity under UFB would have a great or good effect on their current business model included staff productivity (75 per cent), future strategy (70 per cent) and staff location (59 per cent).

Applications seen as likely to be enabled by UFB included collaboration tools such as high definition video-conferencing (70 percent), voice over IP telephony (70 per cent), cloud computing (69 per cent) and remote working (65 per cent).

Respondents mostly wanted more information on UFB pricing (81 per cent), performance guarantees (nearly 77 percent), UFB speeds (nearly 76 per cent), and deployment timeframes (72.5 per cent).

The greatest barriers to taking up UFB services were believed to be price (more than 85 per cent) and accessibility (nearly 55 per cent).

Crown Fibre Holdings was set up to manage the Government's $1.5 billion investment in UFB infrastructure, with the aim being to accelerate the roll-out of UFB to 75 percent of New Zealanders over 10 years.

TUANZ chairman Pat O'Connell said it was necessary to ensure fibre was not only deployed, but used.

"Understanding local barriers to uptake and surveying which services and applications end users want, is an important part of building a more specific view of potential UFB demand."

- NZPA