All eyes on Hawke's Bay broadband rollout

Eyes are fixed on the government-tossed coin deciding who will partner the government's broadband rollout for Hawke's Bay.
Hawke's Bay resident Rod Drury from Pacific Fibre, the company building New Zealand's second international broadband link, said the fact that other regions had moved first towards government partnership did not look good for Hawke's Bay.
"Hawke's Bay is losing its competitive advantage, businesses are more likely to invest in those regions that do have fibre," he said.
Hawke's Bay's consumer-owned Unison appeared out of the running for the rural rollout after the government moved the goal posts in December, calling for nationwide solutions rather than regional.
Unison had been part of the New Zealand Regional Fibre Group (NZRFG), a consortium of power lines companies.
NZRFG was initially the only company in prioritised negotiations with Crown Fibre Holdings (CFH) in September to begin building the ultra-fast broadband network.
Telecom's share price suffered as it looked to be falling out of the running for the billion-dollar rollout.
The NZRFG's proposed a national solution for connecting rural New Zealand with world class broadband speeds - through a mix of fixed fibre, mobile and wireless.
But Telecom climbed back into the running, having been chosen to take part in prioritised negotiations in 25 urban areas and was a strong contender for the rural and urban roll out in Hawke's Bay.
Telecom's proposal included its structural separation into two companies, with its Chorus unit becoming a standalone company.
It was one of three bidders short-listed for the RBI. Partnering with Vodafone, Telecom would extend its existing fibre infrastructure by 3000km, while Vodafone would build 154 new mobile towers.
Another proposal involved state-owned Kordia, Woosh Wireless and FX Networks. Kordia and Woosh, under the name OpenGate, which would provide wholesale wireless access delivering "last mile" connectivity, while FXNetworks would deliver the fibre component. Also on the shortlist is Torotoro Waea, a partnership between Maori that included representatives of iwi, wananga and industry together with fibre optic and 0wireless network operator Opto Networks. Its plan includes providing connectivity to up to 1000 marae, enabling marae to be a base for education programme delivery.
While missing out on the broader rural bids, some of NZRFG's had been successful so far in proposals for urban roll outs.
This is what consumer owned Unison Fibre hopes for in Napier/Hastings having completed a ultra-fast loop with partner FXNetworks.
Unison bought the Napier metropolitan network from national fibre company FX and entered into a long term contract for the use of another 20km of fibres to complete a loop between Napier and Hastings. Other urban centres in Hawke's Bay would not be included in the urban roll out, as they were too small to make the list, said Unison Fibre general manager Nigel Purdy.
"They will get some improvement out of the rural scheme."
Mr Drury said because Telecom was ahead of Unison in the negotiations it may hold an advantage. "Reading between the lines, it seems it's for Telecom to lose."