Prime Minister John Key is promising that physical work willhave begun on the Government’s Ultra Fast Broadband plan by the end of theyear.

In his opening statement to Parliament this afternoon, Key brieflytouched on the planned fibre network, when outlining a $7.5 billion spend-up oninfrastructure in the next five years.

“In 2010, fibre will begin to be laid as part of theGovernment’s $1.5 billion ultra-fast broadband initiative, and furtherinvestment will improve broadband in rural and remote areas.”

The government entity set up tomanage the roll-out, Crown Fibre Holdings (CFH) received 33 proposals from 18respondents when bids closed on 29 January. CFH is expected to announce anindicative timetable around the assessment of those proposals this month.