Queenstown and Dunedin are the priorities for the deployment of ultrafast broadband (UFB), but business owners in other Otago centres could access the fibre running past their doorstep, Chorus says.
New Zealand's largest telecommunications infrastructure company has installed high-speed broadband services in the Queenstown central business district and work will expand to include Fernhill, Frankton and Kelvin Heights in the next two years.
Otago towns such as Arrowtown, Kingston, Wanaka, Cromwell and Alexandra are not on the UFB programme agreed with Crown Fibre Holdings at this stage, because Crown Fibre wanted to serve the largest centres first, to promote economic growth.
However, it did not mean Otago centres could not access the fibre network, Chorus South Island field services regional manager Jared Halstead, of Christchurch, said.
''Other than UFB, we have fibre running all around the country as well, and where that fibre is running in certain parts of Wanaka, businesses are able to hook into that fibre but they have to pay for the connection to where it is and their business.''
Mr Halstead said business people interested in accessing fibre should call their service provider, to ask for a quote.
Chorus confirmed last week plans for UFB installation in years four and five of its fibre-build programme.
July 2014 to June 2016 plan will see the company begin work in the last of its 24 candidate areas, Waiheke Island near Auckland, as well as finishing work in nine other provincial towns and cities.
Those include Oamaru by the end of June 2015, along with Ashburton, Blenheim, Timaru and Queenstown by the end of June 2016, in addition to Greymouth, Rotorua, Taupo and Waiuku.
Years four and five will see Chorus deploy fibre to more than 250,000 New Zealand homes, schools, medical centres and businesses. UFB policy requires fibre to be delivered first to priority customers, including schools, hospitals, medical facilities and businesses.
The builds in years four and five will bring the number of customers in Chorus areas who are able to connect to UFB to more than half a million. About 57% of the UFB coverage target should be completed by June 2016.
Chorus said it was working with councils, communities and industry to help them make the most of UFB when it came to their area.
By the end of 2019, Chorus would have extended the reach of its 29,000km fibre network to deploy UFB past more than 830,000 urban homes, businesses, schools, hospitals and medical facilities throughout New Zealand.
