City’s Bid to Become Leading Digital Hub

Dunedin, 29 October 2013 – Dunedin is in the running to win the fastest broadband speeds in the southern hemisphere, which would bring major economic development benefits.

The opportunity to be the first city in the southern hemisphere to have one gigabit per second (1 Gbps) internet connection would enable Dunedin to become a leading digital innovation hub for New Zealand and beyond.

Chorus is organising a community competition called Welcome to Gigatown which means Dunedin will compete with other New Zealand centres over a period of 15 months to win an early upgrade to a 1Gbps network –100 times faster internet than we have now.

Launching Dunedin’s bid today, Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull says, “Yes, you will be able to download data more quickly, but the real opportunity is in Dunedin building on its technological infrastructure and environment to move data more efficiently and connect with businesses and communities all over the world.

“With the right communications networks, Dunedin becomes a very attractive proposition for investors interested in the opportunities Dunedin offers in health technologies, education and learning, niche manufacturing and design technologies. That in turn will pull in more talented people who choose to live in Dunedin, raise families and work globally.”

The power of this connection would give start-ups, software companies and developers who can to live anywhere in the world a reason to choose Dunedin.

Chorus launched the Gigatown competition yesterday.

For Dunedin to win, residents need to take to social media to tweet, like and share their views on why Dunedin should win access to 1Gbps internet services for three years. The hashtags are #GigatownDunedin and #GigatownDUN. Whoever creates the biggest buzz will become Gigatown so start sharing your ideas at www.dunedinnz.com/gigatown or at www.facebook.com/gigatowndunedin. Each piece of hashtagged content will earn Gigapoints, as will each subsequent share, like, retweet or comment.

An ongoing city wide conversation will need to focus on how Dunedin will apply digital communications creatively and practically on an everyday basis to achieve our economic goals of increasing skills, incomes, job opportunities and investment in the city and provide a better service for ratepayers.

A project co-ordinator, located at the Dunedin Digital Office, will be appointed to drive Gigatown activities on behalf of the city.

For more information on Gigatown, visit www.gigatown.co.nz.

ENDS

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