Fibre network seen as winner for Central Hawke's Bay

Central Hawke's Bay businesses are set for a major boost with electricity lines company Centralines about to liven its new fibre network.
Installing the fibre backbone on their lines network gave Central Hawke's Bay a faster, more reliable and safer electricity network as well as ultra-fast broadband with a wide selection of internet service providers.
Centralines chairman James Aitken said ultra-fast fibre broadband was a positive investment for Central Hawke's Bay as it led the district forward in terms of technology, communications, innovation and economic growth.
"Centralines has planned for the future with a fibre cable backbone that will improve our electricity network communications and provide huge capacity for broadband data services to businesses and the community," he said.
"We needed to future-proof our network for speed and security. Fibre is the most efficient option. Centralines have three major substations in Onga Onga, Waipawa and Waipukurau that need to communicate with each other and our main control room."
The 27km fibre backbone would instantly improve its internal electricity network communications, operations and management of its assets, linking all three substations.
"It will improve reliability and quality of power supply and enable faster restoration speeds to the community," Mr Aitken said.
UnisonFibre sales and marketing manager Wayne Baird said the company was pleased to extend its fibre network from Napier and Hastings into Central Hawke's Bay.
"There are also many Central Hawke's Bay businesses that have offices in Napier and Hastings and Hawke's Bay businesses with offices in Waipukurau and Waipawa," he said. "We now provide the opportunity for those businesses to all have access to ultra-fast fibre broadband across the region."
Central Hawke's Bay businesses would now have access to many more service providers through the existing UnisonFibre agreements.
"UnisonFibre is planning to connect its first customer to ultra-fast fibre in the next few weeks and is expecting huge interest from other businesses wanting to sign up over the next 12 months."
When the fibre network backbone was installed last year it was rolled out close to commercial areas so businesses could have access to the network for ultra-fast fibre broadband.
Steve Stuart, chief executive of independent internet provider Airnet, said the development would open up many opportunities for Central Hawke's Bay.