Broadband boost for rural areas

Rural broadband is set to improve.

Nine new fibre-fed broadband cabinets in Northland have been installed to help boost rural broadband in the region.

Residents at Manganese Point, Mangawhai, Parakao, Poroti, Parua Bay, Tangowahine and Waikare will benefit from the new cabinets.

Chorus infrastructure general manager Ed Beattie said the improved broadband speeds would provide "faster upload speeds for photographs and images, faster download speeds for music and movies, and better, clearer video conversations with friends and family".

He said the improvements would also help rural businesses connect to the marketplace and allow companies to run applications from cloud-based services, "reducing IT costs and improving business resilience".

Mr Beattie said rural businesses, such as farms, could better connect to livestock improvement records and markets overseas, as well as improving time management through online buying.

He said broadband internet connection plans, modems, computers, home wiring or business wiring and distance from the new cabinets all impacted on the quality of connection.

The project by Chorus is part of the Government's Rural Broadband Initiative, with the company installing about 1200 fibre-fed cabinets to rural areas throughout New Zealand.

Communications Minister Amy Adams said she was thrilled that some rural areas in Northland now had access to "faster broadband and the economic and social benefits this will bring".

"Reliable access to the internet at home and at work and better mobile coverage where you are means better business tools and more ways to connect with customers and suppliers."

She said that by 2016, 90 per cent of New Zealanders in areas not covered by ultra fast broadband would have access to rural broadband.