NZRFG ready to build national network now

NZRFG ready to build national network now

The New Zealand Regional Fibre Group remains intent on winning the ultra-fast broadband (UFB) and rural broadband initiatives (RBI) outright and wants to have construction underway before Christmas.

The announcement comes as the collective of electricity lines and fibre companies prepares to issue a Request for Information around a common service organisation it has pitched to the Government.

CEO Vaughan Baker says the motivation behind the RFI is a desire to bring fibre based ultra-fast broadband to New Zealanders as quickly as possible.

He is backing the regionally based members of the NZRFG to drive New Zealand’s push into a fibre world by building substantial fibre networks in major pockets of the country.

The proposed common service organisation is designed to ensure nationwide consistency of service delivery and provide national access for service providers throughout the network build, he says.

With the planned release of the RFI only weeks away, Mr Baker says the rationale is to create a new business model that will drive costs out of the industry.

The move will bring the group a step closer to formalising a concept that will lower fibre network costs, drive build efficiency, deliver scales of economy and lessen transaction costs for service providers using the network.

“Under our model, service providers will no longer experience the costs and hassles created by the current entanglement of legacy systems and processes which are so constraining. We are proposing a compelling and fresh start,” says Mr Baker.

“Ultimately, this is about creating a new entity that delivers best practice business solutions coordinating Local Fibre Companies to ensure consistency of rollout, standards and interoperability through the urban and rural broadband initiatives.

“We have leveraged the model developed for Singapore’s fibre to the door build, and believe it is a great fit. A similar model is being developed in Australia.”

With 33 urban centres and 75% of the population prioritised for fibre network builds, the NZRFG’s 19 members have declared a commitment to reach even more metropolitan towns and take fibre to around 80% of New Zealanders.

“Taking fibre to the door of every healthcare and educational facility, and as many businesses and homes around the country as quickly as we can is the only forward-thinking option we see as logical for New Zealand’s future economic and social prosperity to take a dramatic leap forward. It’s imperative we give ourselves a head start because with every delay, we miss out on something great, something revolutionary.”

Mr Baker has also reinforced a view that the Government must not allow Telecom’s conditional ultra-fast broadband bid to derail process, nor stall the construction of a national fibre network.

“If other parties aren’t ready to build a fibre network that we all agree is an urgent priority for our economic prosperity, then that really only leaves the members of the New Zealand Regional Fibre Group to do the job. We have a national solution that will ensure local ownership,” says Mr Baker.

“Our membership is competing hard to win their respective urban bids and our collective rural bid and that is not going to change. We’re not in this to come second because we see how invaluable fibre networks will be to our communities.

“We will do it well and we can do it now because we have the systems, the infrastructure, the people and the expertise in place – not to mention the local knowledge which is so critical.”

ENDS

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