Rotorua joins the race to be Gigatown

Rotorua joins the race to be Gigatown

Rotorua's bid to be named Gigatown - and win an upgrade to the fastest internet in the Southern Hemisphere - is slowly gaining momentum.

Chorus launched its competition "Welcome to Gigatown" on Labour Day, with points awarded for mentions on social media.

The prize, for one town, is an upgrade to a one gigabit per second network, up to 100 times faster than most cities in the world.

Ben Deller, marketing manager for local broadband and phone retailer Now, is keen to get behind the Rotorua bid.

Although it had got off to a slow start, with Oamaru and Porirua currently leading the race, he said it was not too late as the competition would run for about a year.

"This is a 12-month marathon, it's not a sprint."

Mr Deller said the upgrade could be "transformational" for Rotorua and attract businesses and money into the city from places such as Auckland.

He said the competition would bring a gigabit network to the winning town 5-10 years before the rest of the country, "potentially giving Rotorua a leg up in terms of infrastructure and possible outcomes".

Rachel Warrender, director of dubzz Digital Marketing, said there was a lack of awareness in Rotorua about the competition. She said winning it could make a huge difference.

"It would do great things for our economy and definitely attract businesses into Rotorua that may not have come otherwise."

Rotorua software developer Jordan Slappendel of Maxim Software agrees.

He has already registered on the Gigatown website and begun using the competition hashtag on his Twitter account - earning points for Rotorua.

However, with Rotorua only around 25th place currently, he was concerned he was fighting a losing battle.

Rotorua District Council inner city enterprises manager Nick Dallimore said the council was keen to support the bid and would be meeting interested parties over the coming weeks to decide how it could best get behind the campaign.

To support Rotorua's bid, go to www.gigatown.co.nz and register, selecting Rotorua as your town. Then use #gigatownrotorua or #gigatownrot on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Flickr or on public Facebook pages (Gigatown fan pages) and public groups you nominate.