Fibre uptake past 20% in Christchurch suburbs

Enable Networks reports it is connecting about 600 customers a month to the Christchurch fibre network. It has a total of 6,100 customers already connected — making a total uptake of 11 percent across the city.

That’s a little better than the national average just three years after the nationwide UFB rollout began .

Rolleston is New Zealand's fibre town

Earlier this year the Canterbury Plains town Rolleston was recognised as New Zealand's leading fibre town. It remains the leader with 24 percent of homes and premises connected to the UFB fibre network. Rolleston is also serviced by Enable Networks.

In April Enable says it has received almost 600 orders for fibre broadband from the town. That is almost three times the national uptake rate. Significantly, that was less than six months after Enable Networks first lit the town’s fibre network.

Earthquakes

Rolleston is a special case. Although the town was close to the centre of the Christchurch earthquakes, the land is stable. This means Rolleston is now one of the fastest growing towns in the country with people leaving the nearby city moving into new subdivisions.

Even so, leading the country on fibre adoption is a feather in the town’s cap and an indication something special could be brewing out on the Canterbury Plains

Christchurch progress

In Christchurch, two suburbs now have more than 20 percent of premises connected to the network. Burnside is on 22 percent and Addington has 20 percent.

These numbers are good. In fact, sign-up rates are improving at a fast clip across the entire country. This underlines the wisdom of extending the UFB network beyond the 75 percent of the population into smaller towns.

Meanwhile, the fibre roll-out is paying off in terms of overall speeds. The latest Akamai State of the Internet report notes New Zealand saw a huge 21 percent quarter-on-quarter rise in average fixed connection speed, taking it up to 6.8Mbps. The year-on-year headline speed is up 47 percent.

New Zealand’s average peak fixed connection speed climbed 31 percent in the quarter to 31.8Mbps. That’s a 52 percent year-on-year increase.