Electricity firm to sell broadband

Electricity lines company Unison Networks is moving into the internet broadband business.

Its cables will offer customers an alternative to Telecom's Chorus network, allowing competition for phone and broadband services.

Unison is one of the biggest electricity lines companies, supplying more than 100,000 customers connected to networks in Hawke's Bay, Rotorua and Taupo.

Unison's first high speed fibre optic cable will run from Hastings to Napier.

It aims to upgrade the link to 80 per cent of electricity substations in the cities by the end of the year and to then progressively run broadband cable to cover all the main commercial and business areas of Hawke's Bay.

It could then move into Taupo and Rotorua.

- © Fairfax NZ News