Gigatown competition will change the future for one town

29 October 2013

Gigatown competition will change the future for one town

Federated Farmers is excited by Chorus’s year-long competition to bring the fastest broadband speed to one New Zealand town.

“This competition is a great opportunity for rural towns,” says Conor English, Federated Farmers Chief Executive.

“If a rural town wins it will become the first town in the southern hemisphere to receive one-gigabit per second broadband speeds – up to 100 times faster than most cities around the globe.

“New Zealand’s farmers are desperate for new ways to get onto the internet and this competition has the potential, for one fortunate town, to spark innovation and mobilise and transform their local economy and society.

"Rural people are people too, so all the advantages of faster broadband apply in the countryside as well as the city. On top of that, most of our exports originate from the countryside so the potential economic benefit is significant as well.

“All towns and cities covered by Chorus’ Ultra-fast Fibre build plans will be eligible to enter the competition, which launched yesterday, whereas Christchurch, much of the central North Island and Whangarei will be ineligible because other companies are building the UFB network there.

“The eligible communities will have to demonstrate to Chorus why their town should be chosen and what they plan to do with it - the more innovative the town the better. Details of how the competition will be run are on the Gigatown website and Chorus expects to pick a winner in early in late 2014.

“Given there is huge potential to improve productivity and attract/retain people in rural New Zealand through technology, we hope a provincial town or city wins this Gigatown competition!” concluded Mr English.

ENDS

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