Gigatown win set to strengthen Dunedin's economy

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) today congratulated Dunedin for winning the year long Gigatown competition and sees this as a significant boost for the region.

After a lot of hard work and community buy-in, five passionate towns – Dunedin, Gisborne, Nelson, Timaru and Wanaka – made up the finalists for this competition and have competed to win points across five different challenges.

Dunedin has come out on top to win Gigatown and will now help lead the charge in New Zealand's transformation to becoming a gig-savvy nation. The prize sees the council receive access to a 1 Gigabit per second internet connection at the price you’d expect to pay for entry level broadband at 100Mbps.

As well as this, Dunedin will get a $200,000 fund provided by Chorus and Alcatel Lucent's ng Connect that will support entrepreneurs and innovators taking new services to market over the gigabit fibre connection in Gigatown. It will also receive a $500,000 community fund provided by Chorus that organisations in the Gigatown community can apply to kick start community related developments that showcase how gigabit infrastructure and UFB can be activated for social good.

LGNZ President Lawrence Yule said the economic benefits Dunedin will receive will be a huge benefit to the City and congratulates Mayor Dave Cull and Dunedin City Council Chief Executive Sue Bidrose on their success.

“The win gives Dunedin the opportunity to take digital technology to the next level within the community and it will open doors for local business at home and abroad, and for those wishing to set up business in the region.”

“How Dunedin leverages the opportunities from the win will be a major focus for the Dunedin City Council and LGNZ looks forward to seeing the benefits to share best practice around the country,” says Mr Yule.

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