Ultrafast Fibre completes UFB network expansion two years early

New Zealand broadband infrastructure company Ultrafast Fibre (UFF) has announced that 27 towns and 30,000 additional customers can now access fibre broadband services following the early completion of the second phase of the government’s Ultra-fast Broadband rollout programme (UFB2 and UFB2+), begun in February 2018. UFF has added 636km of new fibre to its network two years ahead of schedule, and has now built a total of 3,500km across a region spanning Hamilton, Tauranga, New Plymouth and Whanganui on North Island. Average fibre uptake across the 27 newly connected towns surpassed 34% in December 2019, while uptake has reached 63% among towns connected to UFF’s network in the initial phase of the UFB programme. The company noted that 53% of new customers are opting for a 1Gbps connection, ahead of the launch of 2Gbps and 4Gbps plans later this year. UFF also revealed that five retail service providers have signed on to its new 10Gbps trial since it launched in mid-December 2019, with two customers already trialling the faster connections at their premises.