The government has announced that about half of New Zealand homes and businesses are now connected to ultra-fast broadband (UFB) in the 121 centres where UFB is now available.
This means that 714,258 end users are now enjoying the benefits of a faster, more reliable internet connection in their homes and businesses
Kris Faafoi, Minister for Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media said “This government programme is about 77 per cent complete, with 1,432,554 users now able to connect to the network. When the UFB infrastructure is fully deployed by the end of 2022, people in more than 390 towns and cities will be able to connect to the country’s fibre network.
New Zealanders are starting to adopt UFB across New Zealand. The latest UFB Progress Report shows that 15 towns have uptake rates above 50 percent: Auckland, Blenheim, Cambridge, Dunedin, Hamilton, Nelson, New Plymouth, Pukekohe, Rotorua, Tauranga, Te Awamutu, Tīmaru, Waipu, Waiuku and Whāngārei
This quarter Waiuku overtook Dunedin as the centre with the highest percentage uptake of UFB – just over 59%.
“Uptake rates across the country indicate UFB is fast becoming Kiwis’ preferred broadband technology,” Kris Faafoi says
“We also know a lot of New Zealanders are keen internet users, and use is increasing year on year. For example, the Commerce Commission’s 2018 report showed Kiwis’ average monthly data use per fixed-line broadband connection was 172GB, compared to 117GB in 2017.
