The last roadside kerbs in town are being dug up as a four-year ultrafast fibre installation project draws to a close.

The installation is expected to be completed before the end of the year, and will be followed by a two-to-three month period of final testing, says Ultrafast Fibre CEO, William Hamilton.

The city's fibre optic network is nearing completion. Photo: File.

By then, around 702 kilometres of next generation, super-fast fibre network will have been laid, passing by over 47,500 residential, business, health and education premises.

The network will provide 53,000 Tauranga end users with the opportunity to connect.

'Tauranga has led the way by assisting UFF throughout the build phase,” says William.

'We've had terrific support from our local stakeholders such as Tauranga City Council. Rolling out network infrastructure like this is rarely entirely impact free, but if communities work together as Tauranga has, disruption can certainly be minimised.”

Tauranga households are the fastest to sign up to the UFF network of towns where ultrafast is installing, adds William.

'Across the eight towns and cities in our network, Tauranga has been the fastest growing from an uptake perspective, with 17 percent as at the end of May this year,” he explains.

'Ultra-Fast Broadband will enhance and in some ways completely change the way the people of Tauranga communicate, work and play online and that's exciting.”

While Tauranga farewells the large spools of orange cable ducting, the drilling machines and the string of orange fenced kerbside holes, residents can anticipate faster internet, more reliable performance and the ability to have several devices running quickly at once.

Customers can access services on the network via their chosen Broadband Retail Service Provider (RSP). With 30 retailers operating on the network in Tauranga, choice and competition at the retail level should provide good news for consumers.

'Customers – whether business or residential – are sure to find an exciting service plan at a suitable price across the range available from all our RSPs,” says William.