CityLink extends to Miramar

Citylink will extend its fibre optic cable network from the central city to Miramar, the company has confirmed.

Chief executive Neil de Wit says the telco will lay about 15-20 kilometres of fibre optic cable from the cbd to Miramar and within the suburb. It will be used to connect businesses and possibly schools to faster broadband.

Peter Jackson's Weta and Wingnut group of companies will foot the bill for about 10km of the cable.

That cable is being laid now and should be in place by early next year.

Weta Digital chief technology officer Monique Bradshaw says the company's investment will have a long-term positive impact on the capabilities of the film industry in Wellington but should also have wider spin-offs for the suburb.

She says the primary purpose of its cable network will be to support the film industry by providing "a robust, high-bandwidth connection between the companies and facilities within the group".

But Weta is also exploring potential opportunities to work with organisations such as Wellington City Council to "leverage any excess capacity for the benefit of the community", she says.

"As well as allowing opportunities for greater national and international connectivity, the network will provide capability for information sharing and data transmission far beyond what was previously available on the peninsula."

Mr de Wit says some of the cable will be buried and some laid above ground. CityLink will get access to some council infrastructure to assist with the rollout. The council has mooted making its street light poles and underground ducting available to network providers.

"From my point of view this is an amazingly exciting project," he says. "We started talking to Weta about similar things 10 years ago. Some things take a while."

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