Demand for fibre connections doubles in Whanganui

The demand for high speed internet connections is increasing. Photo / Bevan Conley

The demand for faster internet has sharply increased over the last few weeks as Whanganui residents look to take their connections to the next level.

Twice as many households and businesses have ordered high speed internet in October compared with the previous six months.

Rhonda Morris, Whanganui & Partners strategic lead manufacturing, logistics and commercial, said demand for fibre was going up throughout the country and it was expected that Whanganui rates would be consistent with the trend.

"Our businesses are increasingly competing at a national and international level, and it's not surprising they want access to every available advantage."

Whanganui was recently named as a "Smart21" city for 2020 by the Intelligent Community Forum, a United States based group that considers factors such as broadband, innovation and digital equality.

Morris said access to fibre connectivity was a must for many businesses.

"Industries with the highest rates of broadband uptake are financial and insurance services industry and professional, scientific, and technical services industry.

"These are two of the three fastest growing industries in New Zealand, and we simply won't attract these types of businesses into our economy without having fibre."

Whanganui's network was built by Ultrafast Fibre (UFF) as part of the Government's ultra-fast broadband programme.

Ultrafast Fibre chief executive John Hanna said Whanganui was the first major town that the company completed its build in but said many residents hadn't the switch.

"I looked at all the different towns we have across our region I was quite surprised to see Whanganui was the lowest connected town," Hanna said.

"We'd done all the build but the connections were sitting in the low 40 per cent range, versus a place like Hamilton which I sitting in the high 60 per cent range."

UFF represents about 13 per cent of the ultra-fast broadband build, and has networks across Hamilton, Tauranga, Whanganui and New Plymouth.

Hanna said he recently visited Whanganui and spent time with mayor Hamish McDouall, council chief executive Kym Fell, and Whanganui & Partners chief executive Mark Ward to get a sense of what was happening around fibre.

It was determined there was a lack of awareness and understanding around the capacity of fibre, which resulted in the company creating a campaign specfically for Whanganui.

Hanna said the future of fibre and the continued growth of the network is exciting.

"There's just a sense that there's more innovative thinking, more technology businesses being established and organisations just really coming to life."