Tauranga business leaders say the region could soon attract investment from major international IT companies such as Google and Microsoft.
This comes after the government announced on Tuesday morning that the city would be one of the first in the country to benefit from the rollout of ultra-fast broadband.
The upgrade to ultra-fast broadband in Tauranga is expected to take five years to complete.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council technology and economic development group manager Miles McConway describes the decision as a 'fantastic” move that will transform the Tauranga economy forever.
'Local businesses certainly are talking to some global companies and having this infrastructure in place, showing that there is an intention to invest in this infrastructure can only support their endeavours to attract overseas investment and open up some of these bigger companies like Google and Microsoft.”
Minister for Communications and Information Technology Steven Joyce announced on Tuesday that Tauranga, Hamilton, Whangarei, New Plymouth and Whanganui will be the first cities in New Zealand to receive the broadband package.
He says the joint ventures with Crown Fibre Holdings are worth more than $200 million.
The first stages of rolling out the ultra fast broadband in the city will start in 2011.
Priority One CEO Andrew Coker says the economic benefit for Tauranga is 'huge”.
'Particularly in terms of attracting business relocations, this is world leading broadband,” says Andrew.
'One of the key things businesses decide when they are going to relocate somewhere is key pieces of infrastructure.
'In terms of what Priority One focuses on, broadband is our number one priority at the moment.”
Tauranga MP Simon Bridges is happy that Tauranga has been selected to be one of the first centres to benefit from the rollout.
'As a fast growing city we need this cutting edge technology to continue moving into smart, high value areas that deliver better paying jobs into our region,” says Simon.
'Our established industries will also benefit hugely from this.”
Click here to read a factsheet on the new system being implemented.
2 comments
Fibre Cable
Posted on 07-12-2010 14:06 | By Jitter
Great to hear. However there is a bit of a down side which is not commonly know. I have read recently in an electronics publication that fibre cable is not all it is cracked up to be. Performancewise "Yes" but durability "No". The article I read stated that if fibre is buried underground it should last up to 25 years but will start to deteriorate quickly well before this. If fibre is hung from power poles it will last up to 15 years but again will deteriorate quickly. I don't know how true the above are. However evidently there is a lot of work being done overseas on the development a new high speed copper cable which will perform as well as fibre but last indefinitely.
Nice for the city
Posted on 08-12-2010 11:37 | By Persephone
but despite a series of promises from government, rural NZ still languishes in the dark. I'll bet this scheme has no intent on addressing that.
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