Minister Announces Streamlined Consents Process

23 February 2016

Minister Announces Streamlined Consents Process

MyRepublic has welcomed the announcement of the streamlining of the consents process by Minister Amy Adams to speed up Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) fibre installations.

The Government’s announcement to implement a notified consents process for some UFB installations means a much faster and easier process for Chorus and the Local Fibre Companies (LFC) to access private properties on shared driveways and rights of way. Today’s announcement is welcomed by MyRepublic and demonstrates an important step toward ensuring all New Zealanders are able to enjoy the vastly superior internet experience provided by fibre broadband.

Under current legislation, if a property owner or tenant of a dwelling with a shared driveway wanted UFB installed, approval from every other owner or affected party would need to be obtained. If any of them opposed the connection or were unable to be contacted, the installation was stalled and could not take place. There have been a large number of delays and challenges in obtaining these consents, which has hindered the roll-out of the UFB programme, and has caused frustration to some of our customers who simply want to be connected to the latest and best performing broadband infrastructure.

This legislative change means that consumers who share driveways and want a fibre broadband connection are likely to be connected more easily. The consent process will require notice to be given, and the affected property owners will still have the right to decline, but if there is no response within stated timeframes, consent will be deemed to have been provided and the fibre connection will be able to proceed.

This improvement is an important step to address some of these challenges around consent, and ensures consumers who are currently affected by delays, can be connected in a timely and simple process, whilst still respecting the rights of property owners.

We look forward to further assistance in connecting prospective customers residing in multi-dwelling units, such as apartment complexes and gated communities, and urge the officials to expedite their deliberations and consultation on these changes so that these New Zealanders can join those benefiting from today’s announcement.

“A pragmatic consents process is a critical step in the right direction in creating balance and addressing some of the issues experienced to date during the fibre roll out and we applaud the Government for taking action. But we’re not there yet, we’re far from it. In Singapore, our entire fibre installation process is now completed within 5 days and in Indonesia, we’re achieving same day installations in the majority of cases. These are the aspirational installation targets that we’d like Chorus and the LFCs to aim for. We recognise New Zealand differs from Singapore and Indonesia in many ways, but we can learn a lot from their fibre deployments.” Vaughan Baker, MyRepublic NZ Managing Director.

Vaughan Baker says he’s in discussion with Chorus and the LFCs, as well as their subcontractors, on ways the experience of the MyRepublic Group in the APAC region can be leveraged in our local build.

These changes mean more New Zealanders will be able to connect to this world class fibre broadband network. MyRepublic will continue to be at the forefront of helping customers take advantage of the fibre revolution, and delivering an awesome internet experience to all kiwis.

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