Fibre leader voted innovator of the year
A Christchurch business leader heading one of New Zealand’s fastest growing fibre networks has been honoured for his
achievements.
Enable Networks CEO Steve Fuller was last night voted the TUANZ ICT Innovator of the Year thanks mainly to his tireless
efforts over a three year period to deliver open access fibre to schools, according to the judging panel.
Mr Fuller, chairman of the New Zealand Regional Fibre Group which is contending for the Government’s ultra-fast urban
and rural broadband funds, has steered Enable from a start-up company just three years ago, to a profitable entity after
only two years.
In the last 12 months alone, Enable has grown by 50%.
Enable now has over 250km of fibre passing 70% of Christchurch businesses and has connected fibre to the door of 60
local schools. Mr Fuller hopes to add another 40 to the ultra-fast network by the end of the year.
“What I have tried to do with Enable is develop a business model that can successfully be replicated elsewhere in New
Zealand,” says Mr Fuller.
“An award like this is testimony to the hard work of our team and the support of all those businesses, educational and
health facilities migrating to our network.”
Mr Fuller has been vocal in his desire to bring fibre-driven broadband speeds of 100Mbit/s to as many Kiwis as possible
- a reality well within reach of the NZRFG.
He says ten members within the nationwide electricity lines and fibre collective have invested in fibre networks and if
successful in their Government bids will be able to substantially fast-track the spread of fibre throughout urban and
rural New Zealand.
“As a group we are intent on taking fibre to the door of as many Kiwi homes, businesses, educational and health
facilities as possible. Fibre will be a massive enabler for the New Zealand economy, and our society in general, so it
is a critical utility to have in place for future generations.”
He believes New Zealanders will be short changed if they don’t have access to 100Mbit/s connectivity in a decade,
although the potential is for even faster speeds.
“Fibre connectivity makes copper broadband seem like dial-up in terms of transmission speed. The world is embracing
fibre because it does not suffer from interference or inconsistency and has capacity far superior to copper.”
Fibre utilises light to transmit data at incredibly fast speeds which means you can send and receive information almost
instantly.
“That means people can study or work from anywhere, anytime, by linking through real-time video.”
Mr Fuller says fibre will be as revolutionary as electricity was a century ago.
ENDS