Telecom stakes claim to NZ's national fibre network

Telecom (ASX:TEL) is to stake its claim to be the leading provider of Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) for New Zealand.

In a market update, the telco said it would today submit a “powerful proposition” in response to the Invitation to Participate in the UFB — New Zealand’s equivalent of the National Broadband Network.

Telecom’s CEO, Paul Reynolds, said the proposal focuses on delivering a national network using Telecom’s fibre-to-the-node programme as the logical springboard for the government’s vision of fibre-to-the-home.

“[The proposition] … will ensure the fast delivery of a national fibre network with none of the government’s money being wasted through duplicating what is already built,” Reynolds said in the update. “It makes the maximum use of the fibre already in the ground, assures high quality and guaranteed delivery, and the absolute minimum of waste.”

Reynolds claimed that by taking a national approach, Telecom’s proposal would ensure individual regions benefited from a consistently engineered and interconnected network.

“Quality and flexibility are at the core of the network we propose to build,” he said. “The network will last well into the future and be flexible enough to adapt — at minimal cost — to customer demand and new technologies as they emerge.

The UFB Investment Initiative, announced in September last year, will see the NZ government invest up to $NZ1.5 billion in open-access, dark-fibre infrastructure to accelerate the rollout of ultra-fast broadband to 75 per cent of New Zealanders over the next 10 years.

The UFB network will offer fibre-to-the-premise broadband service providing downlink speeds of at least 100 Mbps and uplink speeds of at least 50 Mbps.

In October, NZ communications and information technology minister, Steven Joyce, announced the government's process for selecting private sector co-investment partners and issued the Invitation to Participate.

• Bookmark this page
• Share this article
  •  
  • facebook
  • slashdot
  • digg
  • Reddit
  • stumbleupon
  • linkedin
  • twitter
• Got more on this story? Email Computerworld
• Follow Computerworld on twitter

• Share
  Share this article

  •  google+
  • facebookfacebook
  • slashdotslashdot
  • diggdigg
  • RedditReddit
  • stumbleuponstumbleupon
  • linkedinlinkedin
  • twittertwitter
• print
• email
• Bookmark