Masterton on track for UFB roll-out

WIDE COVERAGE: The latest map charting the progress of the roll-out of Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) in Masterton. The dark blue areas highlight where UFB was available today and the light blue areas were yet to be completed.PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Ultra Fast Broadband will be available throughout Masterton by the end of the year despite a slow uptake of the service in the town so far, says Chorus media manager Nathan Beaumont.

Mr Beaumont said "very good progress" was being made with the roll-out of fibre optics cables in Masterton, which began in December 2011.

The roll-out by last December was within reach of 80 per cent of the town, with 8500 premises able to be connected to the network, according to the Chorus website. The Rural Broadband Initiative had led the roll-out with fibre laid to rural schools, medical facilities and other organisations across New Zealand like libraries.

"We are due to complete the entire UFB project in Masterton by the end of the year. Once completed, this will mean more than 9500 households, businesses, schools and health facilities will be able to access the ultra-fast broadband network," Mr Beaumont said.

He said the UFB uptake rate for Masterton, as at March, was 9.4 per cent - about 800 premises - which was below the average uptake rate across New Zealand of 12.8 per cent.

Spark New Zealand, formerly Telecom, had been offering connections to the Chorus footprint, where the company had laid fibre infrastructure, since March of 2013.

Optic fibre connections, which unlike copper do not degrade over distance, were now available in Masterton through at least seven providers including 2degrees, ICONZ-Webvisions, Inspirenet, MyRepublic, Spark, Vibe Communications, and Vodafone.

The UFB network allowed data speeds of up to 200Mbps download and 200mbps upload, which was 10 times faster than most copper networks, according to the Chorus website.

Businesses and other organisations were able to purchase Point-to-Point (P2P) UFB fibre connections of up to 1Gigabitps (1000Mbps).

"To give you an idea of the benefits of a UFB-connected business, there is potential for growth from improved productivity, lower travel costs, greater flexibility for people to work from home, lower network and ICT expenses, and savings from moving applications into the cloud," Mr Beaumont said.

"We're already starting to see some of these benefits in Masterton. Businesses already connected to fibre are experiencing seamless cloud computing, they're sending large images and files, conducting meetings over smooth HD video conferencing and hosting multiple users and devices, all on the same internet connection," Mr Beaumont said.

"UFB is also making an impact in Masterton homes, particularly with the rapid rise of online TV, high-definition movies and gaming. UFB allows multiple users in a home to be connected to different devices, and streaming content all at once, with no buffering or loss of connectivity."

The nine-year UFB build started in December 2010 and was one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever undertaken in New Zealand.

The roll-out includes the installation of cabinets upon which artists region to region had painted murals and designs. Each cabinet is capable of handling about 200 premises; comprising high-speed data cables to homes and businesses that support services such as internet television and high definition video conferencing.

The roll-out also involved the laying of thousands of kilometres of fibre optic cable and ducting throughout the country that aims to be within reach of more than 830,000 homes and businesses by 2019.

Communications Minister Amy Adams said the first stage of the nationwide roll-out had hit the midway point.

"The UFB build is going from strength-to-strength, with fibre being rolled out to communities up and down the country. The project continues to be on budget and well ahead of schedule with over 618,000 homes, workplaces and schools now able to connect to the UFB network," Ms Adams said.

The ministry last week launched an online and interactive "broadband map" that showed house by house, which areas across New Zealand had fibre, broadband, and wireless coverage and what maximum speeds users could expect.

Chorus also offered a similar interactive map at www.chorus.co.nz/maps.