Fibre optic cable roll out in some areas occurred at the same time as increased demand for Rugby World Cup streaming. Photo / File
Fibre optic cable roll out in some areas occurred at the same time as increased demand for Rugby World Cup streaming. Photo / File
Editorial
EDITORIAL
Something, somewhere had to give.
The pending Rugby World Cup spurred demand for Ultrafast Broadband (UFB) fibre from earlier in the year. UFB network operator Chorus said it received about 33,000 fibre connection orders during July and completed about 26,000 connections.
That was well up on the27,000 orders and 22,000 fibre installations and connections completed in June.
The surge was bad timing. It came on the heels of a Chorus move to blacklist 22 of its subcontractors in April then a total 38 by this month - a move that followed a Labour Inspectorate and Immigration NZ investigation which found 73 of 75 UFB subcontractors systematically exploited workers through underpayment and other abuses of our employment laws.
This was added on after successive governments had twisted Chorus' arm to maintain free home installations for the public-private UFB (initially designed as a temporary sweetener at the start of the project), putting the squeeze on every step in the food chain.
In such perfect-storm conditions, it was unlikely every fibre install would go smoothly in the pre-RWC rush, and they did not.
Earlier this week, Mangere man Jon Baulcomb complained after a UFB install team put tubing through a room in his house.
This followed an Auckland couple seeking compensation from Chorus after their fence was ruined by a contractor during an error-ridden fibre installation with brackets to house the fibre cable drilled onto the fence unevenly, not parallel to the ground and not in the place neighbours had agreed to.
More than 60 long screws extended through the fence towards Jasmine Kunju and her partner's Glendene garden, posing a danger.
Chorus told the Herald it had a special team designated to repair fibre installations which weren't up to scratch. Surely, that's putting the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.
Fibre optic cable roll out in some areas occurred at the same time as increased demand for Rugby World Cup streaming.Photo / Glenn Taylor
Chorus should ensure its sub-contractors are fully trained, and working toward key performance indicators, met first time without intervention from a duct tape flying squad.
Instead, there is a steady line of subbies complaining to the Herald of poor conditions and high workload.
Chorus has notably sharpened its act since mid-decade, when demand for UFB suddenly hit a tipping point, wait times often stretching for weeks rather than days, and reports of shoddy installs were rife.
There's still scope for the company to lift its game further as the UFB rollout completes. The first phase of the fibre rollout, which will put 75 per cent of the population within reach of ultrafast broadband, is due to finish at the end of this year but the expanded "UFB2", which broadens the coverage area to 85 per cent, will run through to the end of 2022.
