Ngarimu and Thornton bays now included in the Ultra-Fast Broadband roll-out

Ngarimu and Thornton bays on the Thames Coast now joins 14 other Coromandel communities in receiving the benefits of Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) via the Government’s fibre installation programme.

The inclusion of these two new communities is thanks to a partnership between Chorus, Crown Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and our Council.

“We’re so pleased to see this come to fruition. It’s a great outcome for these two communities,” says Thames-Coromandel Mayor Sandra Goudie. “This is a mutually beneficial, community-supported project, providing significant improvements in business confidence for many residents who are professionals working from home.”

In 2017 a petition by more than 200 hundred residents in Ngarimu and Thornton bays put out a plea to central government, CIP, Chorus and our Council, for their settlements to be included in the installation build. The fibre already runs along the Thames Coast Road (SH25), but in this area does not connect to the streets directly off the State Highway.

Since then we’ve been working on a mutually beneficial arrangement, with our Council co-contributing financially towards this infrastructure project, with support from Chorus and CIP, to fund the UFB extension into these communities.

The indicative build dates for Ngarimu and Thornton bays (covering approximately 200 properties:

31 July 2020 – Build start date.
30 November – 30 December 2020 – Testing.
31 December 2020 – Build complete.
The process to get another area that’s not included into the already planned deployment programme does take some time. This is because a number of amendments to current contracts need to be negotiated between Chorus and CIP, along with related build contracts, consents and planning the logistics of adding an additional area into the scheduled work programme.

Inclusion in UFB2 means Chorus will add Ngarimu Bay into the existing programme and the residents can expect the roll out to be similar to nearby Te Puru which has been completed. Chorus and its build partner have already carried out the design. The next step is to seek all the necessary consent prior to build starting mid-2020.

ends

© Scoop Media