Fibre uptake passes 60% mark in 10 NZ cities

According to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s latest Quarterly Connectivity Report, 10 cities now have fibre uptake rates of greater than 60 per cent.

Rolleston is New Zealand's top fibre town with 74 per cent of homes and businesses connected to the fibre network.

The national uptake rate is now 55 per cent. That’s up from 52 per cent in the June quarter. An additional 58,912 premises were connected to the UFB network in the three months to the end of September.

Rugby World Cup surge

Much of that would have been a surge of customers getting ready to stream the Rugby World Cup on Spark Sport.

Communications Minister Kris Faafoi says the MBIE report shows the UFB network is not just providing benefits in the larger cities.

He says; “With UFB roll-out in 126 cities and towns around New Zealand, the deployment is now 87 per cent completed and still ahead of schedule.

“This investment and the connectivity it is making available shows this government’s continued commitment to closing the digital divide so all New Zealanders who want connectivity, have it”.

Rural too

Rural broadband is also growing fast. The MBIE report says phase two of the Rural Broadband Initiative means 40,000 households and businesses in “hard to reach regions of New Zealand” now have access to improved broadband.

In the September quarter 17 marae were connected to broadband. This brings the total number of connected marae to 31.