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Rural broadband aspirations represented by regional fibre group

Published on August 24^th 2009, 4:00pm

Northpower chief executive Mark Gatland said the expanding and regionally diverse membership of the group ensured that both urban and rural communities were well represented.

Our commitment is to help realise the Government’s vision of ultra-fast fibre broadband for New Zealanders.

While the focus of the NZRFG has been on covering areas identified by the government in its proposal, we believe with our New Zealand wide membership the group is well placed to deliver a broadband solution for rural areas - particularly as many are already investing in infrastructure in their communities.

Since the group’s formation in May there has been steady interest from other local fibre companies and lines companies wanting to join the NZRFG.

“We now have 17 members with strong connections into their local communities and a keen interest in developing regional solutions to meet local needs,” Mr Gatland said.

Grady Cameron, chief executive of Dunedin based lines company Aurora Energy agreed and said members had been in touch with their local councils and industry groups to see how they can meet local needs.

“Local groups and businesses are more attuned to local interests and are more likely to invest in local and rural infrastructure than national players. We believe a next generation fibre network that promotes new entrant service providers will see rural services beyond that provided by traditional telco companies. There will be opportunities to promote remote health and education services, people in rural areas will be able to work from home, and we can expect to see the development of more farming sector business services and applications,” Mr Cameron said.

The New Zealand Regional Fibre Group
The NZ Regional Fibre Group (the NZRFG) is a group of regional operators that includes lines companies and local fibre companies, which has come together to support the Government’s efforts to introduce ultra-fast broadband to New Zealand based on a structurally separate, regional model. Members of the New Zealand Regional Fibre Group include Alpine Energy, Aurora, CityLink, Counties Power, Eastland Group, Electricity Ashburton, Enable Networks Ltd, Horizon Energy, Network Tasman, Network Waitaki, Northpower, PowerNet, Unison, Vector, Velocity, Waipa Networks, and WEL Networks..

 

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