Hon Simon Bridges
Minister for Communications
10 August 2017
UFB Connections Available to 1.2 Million
Almost 1.2 million New Zealand households and businesses now have access to
Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB), Communications Minister Simon Bridges says.
The June 2017 Quarterly Broadband Update released today shows that deployment for phase one of the UFB programme is
close to 80 per cent complete, providing 1,185,351 New Zealand households and businesses with the ability to access UFB.
“Our UFB programme is making fantastic progress. We’re fast approaching our target of 1.5 million households and
businesses being able to connect to UFB by 2019, and for 85 per cent of New Zealanders to be able to connect by 2024,”
Mr Bridges says.
“The update for this quarter also shows New Zealanders’ continued strong demand for UFB, consistent with previous
updates. The number of households, business, schools and hospitals connected to UFB has increased 12 per cent in the
past three months to 413,047.
“The UFB build is now fully completed in 22 cities and towns across New Zealand and as the rollout gathers pace, many
more Kiwis will soon have access to this world-class fibre.
“UFB provides speeds of close to 1,000 Megabits per second, allowing households and businesses to have near-instant
access to information, entertainment and online tools that allow them to do more,” Mr Bridges says.
The Government has allocated approximately $2 billion to deliver better connectivity to New Zealanders through the UFB
programme and the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI).
The first phase of RBI delivered faster broadband to over 300,000 rural households, businesses, schools and hospitals
outside of UFB areas. An announcement about the areas that will receive coverage under the second phase of RBI and the
Mobile Black Spot Fund will be made soon.
The latest Quarterly Broadband Update is availablehttp://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/sectors-industries/technology-communications/fast-broadband/deployment-progress.
Further information about the Government’s UFB and RBI programmes is available at www.broadband.govt.nz.
ENDS