NEWS RELEASE: 18 December 2009
Cabinets rev-up broadband for 5100 Nelson residents
Chorus, Telecom's network access business, has completed half of its work to rev-up Nelson’s broadband network with
residents in Stepneyville, Washington Valley, Nelson South, The Brook, Nelson East and The Wood areas among the first to
benefit.
The Nelson central telephone exchange area is the first to have new roadside cabinets and fibre optic cable deployed in
local streets to bring high speed broadband equipment closer to customers. Chorus upgraded 29 roadside cabinets and laid
26kms of new fibre optic cable, to extend ADSL2+ broadband speeds to 5100 residents across these areas.
In all, Chorus plans to upgrade 57 cabinets and deploy about 65kms of fibre optic cable in Nelson, building on the
610kms already in the local network. Work is now underway in Richmond and will continue around Nelson through to
mid-2011.
Chorus Fibre-to-the-Node Programme Manager Ed Beattie said each cabinet is the equivalent of a mini telephone exchange.
"The cabinets contain the electronic equipment needed to deliver broadband to homes via Chorus' local telecommunications
access network.
"Previously, this equipment would have been housed in the local telephone exchange and the whole reason we're bringing
it closer to people is because the closer you are to the equipment the faster your broadband speed is," he said.
Customers within 2km of a new cabinet should be able to connect at faster ADSL2+ broadband speeds subject to other
factors including their broadband plan, modem, computer, and the wiring in their home or business. Customers near the
local telephone exchange continue to have their broadband service delivered from equipment based there.
More than 900,000 homes and businesses around New Zealand are already within reach of high speed broadband access via
either telephone exchange or cabinet-based ADSL2+ equipment. This represents about 50% of the approximately 1.8 million
New Zealand homes and businesses connected by Chorus.
Chorus is installing about 3,600 Whisper cabinets and adding 2,500kms of fibre optic cable to Telecom's existing
23,500kms fibre network to deliver high speed broadband to towns with 500 lines or more by the end of 2011.
Mr Beattie said Chorus’ new cabinets are the result of some world-leading design breakthroughs by Christchurch-based
manufacturers.
"These cabinets contain sophisticated electronic equipment, so a lot of work has gone into making them much quieter and
more power efficient than anything before them."
· Cabinet body is made of 240kg of marine grade aluminium
· Cabinets are coated in a special paint to facilitate graffiti removal
· They contain battery back-up power supply as well as a generator connection in case of power-cuts
· At full load a cabinet uses 1200 watts, the same power as a one-bar heater
· They are designed to limit noise to about 30 decibels, just above the level of a whisper
· 650 key parts in each cabinet (1,150 including fastenings)
· 2 tonnes of concrete per cabinet base
The Telecom Group's fibre optic network can be viewed online at www.broadbandmap.govt.nz
ends