Crown Fibre Holdings Limited (CFH), which was chartered by the Government of New Zealand to manage a nationwide rollout of FTTH Ultra-Fast Broadband, published a short list of 14 parties for regional construction.
Crown Fibre Holdings aims to bring Ultra-Fast Broadband to 75 percent of New Zealanders over ten years, concentrating in the first six years on priority broadband users such as businesses, schools and health services, plus green field developments and certain tranches of residential areas.
Three parties, representing a significant portion of the UFB build, have been selected for prioritized negotiations:
- Alpine Energy (Timaru);
- The Central North Island Fibre Consortium (Hamilton - including Cambridge and Te Awamutu - Tauranga, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Hawera and Tokoroa); and
- Northpower (Whangarei).
Notably absent was Telecom New Zealand, the incumbent operator.
For its part, Telecom New Zealand said it submitted a national proposal covering all UFB and Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) areas. The carrier confirmed that it had been short listed by CFH, but was not on the list of three for prioritised negotiations. Telecom New Zealand reiterated key elements of its national proposal:
- co-investing with the Crown to achieve the 75% coverage objective by 2019;
- splitting into two entirely separate companies (structural separation);
- integration of the RBI to extend the reach of fibre into rural areas.
