MEDIA RELEASE DATE: 7 February 2017

South Taranaki Towns To Get Ultra-Fast Fibre

South Taranaki District Council Mayor, Ross Dunlop, welcomes the announcement that Patea, Manaia, Opunake and Eltham will all be included in stage 2 of the Governments ultra-fast broadband programme.

The Government is investing $3.9 million in Taranaki with the other towns listed in the Taranaki roll-out including Stratford, Inglewood, Okato, Urenui, and Waitara.

“We are very pleased with the number of South Taranaki towns represented, although we would have preferred that the actual work would start a bit sooner,” says Mayor Dunlop.

Opunake is scheduled to be done first during 2019 with the other towns rolled out through to 2022. The total amount of funding allocated across New Zealand was $210million with work starting later in 2017 and will continue until the end of December 2024.

“This is great news for our district and for New Zealand,” says Mayor Dunlop. “ Not only will the ultra-fast fibre network deliver broadband speeds at least 50 times faster than those currently available in New Zealand, this will be the single biggest boost to New Zealand’s infrastructure for decades.”

“It’s exciting that our smaller towns will have access to this technology which has the potential to add significant economic value.” he says.

South Taranaki District Council (STDC) Rural Broadband and Cellphone Working Party Chairman, Deputy Mayor Phil Nixon, says while he was pleased that funding has been allocated to these towns the Working Party’s focus is still very much on ensuring better connectivity and cell phone coverage in the district’s rural areas.

“The Working Party will be working with providers to ensure that the Digital Development Fund the Council has established is used to make better digital service a reality sooner rather than later,” he says.

"We are committed to working with communities that weren’t chosen and will work with them to find broadband solutions that meet their needs.”

ENDS

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