Minister for Communications and Information, Steven Joyce, marked the occasion by attending an event at Manaia View School in Whangarei to celebrate the official start of the project.

“This the first stage in a government plan which will see fibre enabling speeds of at least 100 Mbps rolled out to 75% of New Zealanders where they live, work and study.

“The UFB policy is a key platform for the government and after a huge amount of work behind the scenes I’m pleased now to see some concrete results,” says Mr Joyce.

Fibre will be rolled out to nearly 52,000 people in Whangarei by 2014, including more than 2000 business premises, over 300 healthcare services, and more than 20 schools in the region.

“The future of broadband is in fibre, and taking it right to the home will bring significant gains for productivity, innovation and global reach. This is an exciting day for Whangarei and for New Zealand,” said Joyce.

Yesterday Crown Fibre Holdings named three more companies (including Telecom) it will start negotiating binding offers with for the rollout of UFB across Christchurch, Rangiora and Dunedin.

You can download a free, government-endorsed guide to understanding the benefits of ultra-fast broadband here.