Govt: Kiwis making 'good progress' with UFB uptake

An additional 21,000 Kiwis gained access to fibre over the three months to 30 September 2013, bringing the total number of end users now able to connect to the UFB network in 26 towns and cities across New Zealand to 320,000.

That's according to the latest quarterly report on the government’s ultra-fast broadband and rural broadband programmes, released by Communications and Information Technology Minister Amy Adams.

In addition, under the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI), more 137,000 rural homes and businesses now have access to fast wireless broadband, and about 56,000 rural homes and businesses have access to improved copper broadband services.

Fifteen new towers were installed and 33 were upgraded by Vodafone under the RBI, with almost 1900 schools now able to connect to fibre also.

In addition, 38 of the most remote rural schools in New Zealand now have access to broadband capable of peak speeds of at least 10 megabits per second, which according to the government, is about four times faster than previous services.

"All up, more than 75 per cent of the overall programme target for schools able to connect to faster broadband has now been reached," a government statement reads.

"Over the last quarter, the number of customers signing up to a service under the UFB programme has jumped by about 42 per cent, taking the total number to more than 14,000.

"This is in line with government expectations and overseas experiences at this early stage of deployment."