Fast broadband: How does New Zealand shape up internationall

Friday, 23 January 2015, 8:41 am
Article: Digitl

[caption id="attachment_20665" align="alignnone" width="660"] World’s fastest broadband - click to expand chart[/caption]

New Zealand is behind the international pack when it comes to broadband speeds. The table shows the challenge ahead of the network builders: Chorus. Ultrafast Fibre, Northpower and Enable Networks.

We have long way to go before we match the world leaders.

At the time of the last Akamai report, third quarter 2014, New Zealand ranked 44 for average broadband speeds.

The good news is that New Zealand catching up fast.

The New Zealand Government, through Crown Fibre Holdings, is backing a fast fibre network that will eventually reach to about 80 percent of the population.

We're already on track to connect 75 percent of the population to fibre by 2019.

It's going to be hard for a small country with a geographically distributed population to do as well as city-states like Hong Kong and Singapore. But as more people sign up for fibre, the average connection speed will increase.

This post first appeared at billbennett.co.nz as Fast broadband: How does New Zealand shape up internationally?

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Bill Bennett

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Auckland-based Bill Bennett writes technology and business stories that are directly relevant to New Zealand readers.

His emphasis is on telecommunications, but he also covers other aspects of technology and business. You can find his features in the New Zealand Herald and hear him regularly on RNZ Nine to Noon and the NZ Tech Podcast.

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