Businesses in Oamaru will next week learn how they could be instrumental in helping the town become the first place in the southern hemisphere to receive 1-gigabit-per-second broadband speeds.
Telecommunications company Chorus will next month launch a nationwide competition that would offer one town the prize of a 1-gigabit-per-second broadband speed, and Business Development Oamaru wants Oamaru business owners to get on board with the project.
Business Development Oamaru member Derek Golding said although ultra-fast fibre that would enable ultra-fast broadband (UFB) to be provided had been installed in Oamaru, those speeds would be capped nationwide, and the chance to be able to utilise a 1-gigabit-per-second speed would be a huge business advantage.
He said the group would hold a meeting with Chorus officials at the Oamaru Opera House on Wednesday.
''We are encouraging as many local businesses as possible to attend and find out what they could do with a giga-fibre high-speed network.
''Oamaru is in a prime position, between Dunedin and Christchurch, to bring a lot of big businesses here that would rely on high-speed internet.
''It's not just for geeks - it's businesses that will really benefit from this.''
The Welcome to Gigatown competition will start on Labour Day. Chorus head of marketing and sales Victoria Crone said the company would work with competition partners before it started to define a process that would ensure a level playing field for all towns.
Ms Crone said the competition was intended to encourage people to view UFB as a ''huge opportunity'' to transform the economy.
