The Ultra-Fast Broadband Initiative

The Government's Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) Initiative means that a lot more fibre will be popping up across our towns and cities. This sets New Zealand, and Telecom, on an exciting new journey.

Fibre-optic infrastructure means faster connection speeds, which means new and exciting opportunities for New Zealanders, in business, education and entertainment.

Telecom's people have the skills and experience, not to mention the passion, to lead New Zealand into the fibre future.

Fibre technology is already an integral part of Telecom's network, and we're determined to make the most of the opportunity UFB offers.

UFB background

Crown Fibre Holdings (CFH) was established by the Government as the entity to manage the Government's investment in the UFB Initiative and is the vehicle for investing approximately NZ$1.35 billion of Government funds. As described in the Invitation to Participate, the Government's intention was for CFH to establish local fibre companies (LFCs) that consisted of partnerships between CFH and private sector companies to deliver effective roll out of UFB in each of the 33 UFB regions covered by the UFB Initiative. A key requirement of the UFB Initiative is that private sector partners with retail telecommunications businesses cannot hold a majority share in an LFC.

In December 2010, the Government announced that CFH had reached agreement with two bidders to roll out fibre under the UFB Initiative - Northpower Limited in Whangarei and Ultra Fast Fibre Limited (owned by WEL Networks Limited) in Hamilton including Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Tauranga, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Hawera and Tokoroa. On 24 May 2011, CFH appointed Christchurch City Networks Limited (a subsidiary of Christchurch City Holdings Limited) as its partner for the UFB network build in Christchurch, Rangiora and Rolleston.

On 24 May 2011, the Government also announced that it had reached agreement with Telecom under which New Chorus will roll out fibre to the remaining 24 of the 33 UFB regions, covering approximately 70 percent of the area covered by the UFB Initiative, including Auckland, the eastern and lower North Island and most of the South Island.

On 27 October 2011, Telecom's shareholders voted to approve the resolution to demerge Chorus. Telecom separated its fixed line access infrastructure business, Chorus, on 30 November 2011, to enable Chorus to take a leading role in the UFB initiative. 99.8% of votes cast by Telecom's shareholders were voted in favour of the demerger proposal, which was unanimously supported by the Telecom board.

Chorus became a wholly independent business on 30 November 2011. Listing under the ticker symbol CNU, Chorus shares began trading on a normal settlement basis on the NZSX on Friday 25 November 2011.

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