Plenty of Positives from #Gigatown Dunedin

Dunedin (Wednesday, 26 November 2014) – Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull is embracing all the positives that have come out of Dunedin's Gigatown campaign.

Although the city has taken the Gigatown title, along with new ultrafast 1Gbps broadband and funding for $700,000 worth of UFB-related initiatives across the community, Mr Cull says Dunedin has gained so much more through its involvement.

"This has been a time for us to think about the possibilities that 1Gbps ultrafast broadband will open up for Dunedin.

"Win or lose, the Gigatown competition has helped us focus on the fact that faster broadband is part of our future and, as a community, we need to be ready to make the best of that. Winning means we can bring the future forward much sooner.

"This has been an incredible community effort and I congratulate all those in Dunedin and beyond who put so much into this by signing up, getting others to sign up, and then adapting to different social media platforms to push Dunedin's cause. Our Gigatown team has been an incredibly energetic force for good over this period.

"I must also congratulate Chorus for its foresight and initiaitive to get so many New Zealand communities to engage and, in doing so; consider what faster broadband can do for them."

Dunedin Digital Office Project Manager Josh Jenkins says the competition has brought the city together encouraging collaboration on many levels.

"The original aim, which we stated in our campaign strategy, was to increase understanding of the benefits that fast broadband could provide our communities and businesses, and to leverage the Gigatown campaign to reinvigorate the implementation of Dunedin's Digital Strategy.

"That strategy is about creating ‘Digital Dunedin’ and, through the development and leadership of digital initiatives, to increase access to digital networks and use of digital technology across the city.

"Dunedin has a clear plan and around what we could do over the next three years, and soon we will have the 1Gbps UFB connection to do it.

"We have outlined projects in the plan and are putting them out to the community to vote on what they think should come first. Collaboration will be continued as we move forward to becoming a Gigatown anyway.

"The greatest lesson we can carry forward is that the true power of the Internet is the ability it gives us to collaborate, to work together, and to take on the world from the Dunedin."

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