Download 2.0 – Enable move sees Christchurch join 300mbps pa

Sunday, 28 November 2021, 12:13 pm
Article: Digitl

More New Zealanders will get a fast fibre upgrade as Enable joins Chorus in moving base speeds to 300mbps. 

Christchurch users to get fibre speed bump

Enable, the fibre company serving Christchurch, is following Chorus and upgrading customers to 300mbps. The company says the upgrades could start on December 1 although that depends on retail service providers.

The upgrade could affect up to 90,000 homes in the Enable fibre area. That’s the number that are currently on 100 or 200mbps plans.

Customers on upgraded plans will be able to upload data at 100mbps.

Enable Chief Executive, Johnathan Eele says his company’s customers use around 500GB of data each month. That’s a rise of 33 percent from a year ago.

In August Chorus announced it would replace 100mbps lines with 300mbps lines at no additional cost to customers. The company is still working through the process with retail service providers but expects some upgrades to happen before Christmas.

The move will help shore-up fibre’s competitive position against fixed wireless broadband and low earth orbit satellite services in areas where the technologies compete.

Fewer telco complaints in early 2021

A report from the Telecommunications Dispute Resolution service says it received fewer customer complaints and enquiries in the first half of 2021 compared with a year earlier.

The number of complaints was down 24 percent to 935. Almost all these cases (98 percent) were resolved or closed directly after initial assistance from the TDR. The remainder either went to facilitation and mediation or required the organisation to make a decision.

Pace, sophistication of cyber attacks increasing

The National Cyber Security Centre’s annual Cyber Threat Report says the number of serious online attacks continues to grow. At the same time the NCSC reports the attacks are growing in frequency and sophistication.

It says there were 404 incidents affecting nationally significant organisations in the last year. That’s a 15 percent increase year-on-year.

NCSC points out its focus is on New Zealand’s larger organisations. This means its numbers represent a small fraction of the total number of incidents.

The growth is in line with overseas trends.

NCSC Director Lisa Fong says: “It is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between state and criminal actors, particularly in cases where we are able to intervene early, but also because the line between state and criminal is becoming increasingly indistinct.

“State actors sometimes work alongside or provide havens for criminal groups, and we are increasingly seeing criminal groups now using capabilities once only used by sophisticated state actors.”

Worldwide cloud revenue surging thanks to pandemic

Gartner reports worldwide cloud revenue will reach US$474 billion in 2022 up from $408 billion this year.

The company says the Covid pandemic and booming digital services put the cloud at the centre of digital experiences.

Milind Govekar, a Gartner vice-president says:“The adoption and interest in public cloud continues unabated as organisations pursue a cloud first policy for onboarding new workloads.

"Cloud has enabled new digital experiences such as mobile payment systems where banks have invested in startups, energy companies using cloud to improve their customers’ retail experiences or car companies launching new personalisation services for customer’s safety and infotainment.”

UFB uptake hits two-thirds milestone

In its latest quarterly broadband update Crown Infrastructure Partners reports UFB uptake is now 66 percent. The fibre network now covers 327 towns and cities. The average speed of UFB services is now 277mbps.

CIP says the UFB programme is now 98 percent complete with 85 percent of New Zealanders now able to connect to fibre.

In other news

The Commerce Commission has given Eroad’s acquisition of Coretex the green light. Both companies sell software for fleet managers to know more about vehicles and meet statutory requirements.

A Reseller News story from Rob O’Neill says the partnership between Spark and Auckland based managed services company IT360 has helped the smaller company extend its reach beyond the North Shore and Waitakere areas.

Catalyst Cloud has appointed Doug Dixon as its new CEO. Dixon joins Catalyst Cloud from the ANZ where he was practice lead for services and integration. He has previously worked in technology roles for Kordia and ACC.

The Download 2.0 is a free weekly wrap up of New Zealand telecommunications news stories published every Friday.

Enable move sees Christchurch join 300mbps party was first posted at billbennett.co.nz.

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Bill Bennett

Freelance journalist.

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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