Record orders for Northpower Fibre as UFB build completed

Northpower Fibre Limited Media Statement
8 May, 2014

Record orders for Northpower Fibre as Ultra-Fast Broadband build completed

Orders for Northpower Fibre’s Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) network have doubled since March, and total connections are now almost 1,600 - even before Northpower Fibre promotes the Whangarei network to the full.

Northpower Fibre, the Local Fibre Company deploying the UFB network in Whangarei is today marking the end of the construction job to more than 19,000 premises in the city. Over 22,000 can now access the network. Construction teams have been working at pace to achieve the milestone nearly two months ahead of target.

“We are delighted to deliver UFB to Whangarei ahead of time and on budget,” says Darren Mason, CEO of Northpower Fibre.

“It’s great to see the orders flooding in, especially now that retail service providers (local and national players) have begun actively offering services over our network. With the support of the Whangarei community we look forward to moving into the next phase of the project, marketing and promoting UFB.”

Northpower Fibre is the only Local Fibre Company building to a single city - providing a unique opportunity for collaboration. Partnerships with the Whangarei District Council, Northland Inc, Manaia View School, Channel North and Whangarei Youth Space have been central to generating interest in the new technology, says Mr Mason.

“They’ve been fantastic supporters of our work, whether through easing the consents process, providing temporary accommodation to showcase UFB, engaging with local businesses or role modelling the use of UFB to other schools.

“Right now we’re at more than 8% penetration. With the denominator of premises passed now being fixed, penetration’s just going to keep growing.

“Our thanks goes out to the Whangarei community for its support, and we’ll be looking for further opportunities to collaborate as we promote uptake.”

Northpower is a Northland owned electricity distribution company with over 55,000 consumers connected to its network over an area of 5,700 square kilometres across the Whangarei and Kaipara Districts in Northland. Northpower owns more than 3700km of high voltage electricity lines (237km underground) and almost 2100km of low voltage lines (643km underground) in Kaipara and Whangarei Districts, along with the 50kV transmission lines between Dargaville and Maungatapere. It is also one of New Zealand’s leading fibre network companies. www.northpower.com

ENDS

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