Chorus continues to make progress on countrywide network upgrade

Chorus announced that it has finished building the Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) network in Levin, meaning more than 8,000 households, businesses, schools and healthcare facilities now have access to fibre.

Chorus joined Simon Bridges, Minister of communications for an event to celebrate the completion of the project.

Kate McKenzie Chorus CEO says, "UFB has the potential to transform New Zealand's economy, our communities, and the way we connect to the rest of the world.

"We are really looking forward to seeing how the Levin community can take advantage of having world-class connectivity right on their doorstep.

"New Zealanders are downloading, streaming TV and gaming at a huge rate, as Chorus crosses the country laying fibre, more Kiwis can, and are, taking advantage of our faster, more reliable broadband connections.

Levin residents are large consumers of fibre broadband, with the average household using nearly 200GB worth of data.

The impact on businesses and the economy has started to gain momentum, the Electra Group is one of many businesses benefiting from UFB.

Electra Group group is the country's biggest meter-reading company, the second largest installer of mobile telephone networks and a growing player in the security alarm and response business.

Neil Simmonds, Electra Group CEO says, "It was difficult to run as one company when there were communication barriers.

"The company had constant challenges trying to make decisions because its telecommunications systems were not up to having easy conversations on a day-to-day basis.

"That all changed when the company connected to fibre, now video and web conferencing are a normal part of running the business.

There are still broadband builds underway in more towns.

Bridges announcing the start of UFB builds in Picton, Horotiu, Thames, Dargaville and One Tree Point.

In January the government announced an investment of $300 million to extend UFB to 423,000 New Zealanders across 151 towns.

Bridges says, "Having access to fast and reliable broadband is critical to growing our regional economies and to New Zealand's future.

"Over one million New Zealand households and businesses already have access to fibre.

"Once the UFB build is completed, approximately 85% of New Zealanders will have access to internet speeds of close to 1,000 megabits per second.

The government is investing $170 million to deliver UFB to the Waikato region, $44 million to deliver UFB to the Nelson region and $60 million to deliver UFB to the Northland region.