Chorus touts broadband to travellers

Telecom network arm Chorus has set up a display on what may be New Zealand's "most walked-past wall" at Wellington Airport, to help convince Kiwis that when it comes to broadband, the cup is half full.

Chief executive Mark Ratcliffe says Chorus has now installed more than a third of 3500 planned roadside cabinets that are doubling people's average connection speeds from 6 to 12 megabits per second, and decided now was a good time to "make some noise".

Cabinetisation often went unnoticed by broadband users, only some of whom might realise the reason for improved speeds.

But customers needed to make sure they had a compatible ADSL2 modem and a full-speed broadband plan to take advantage, he says.

The upgrade also led to more predictable broadband performance, with fewer peaks and troughs.

"Too often we hear stories about what we haven't got rather than what we have got. We have got pretty highquality broadband in a lot of places in New Zealand and we are trying to encourage people to take it up." Cabinetisation has been completed in some towns, such as Taupo and Greymouth, he says.

Mr Ratcliffe says the promotion is "not really" designed to make travellers question the Government's proposed $1.5 billion investment in an alternative fibre-optic access network.

"The Government has been pretty clear it sees ultrafast broadband as a step beyond [cabinetisation] and as complementary to what we are doing. We share the Government's vision for fibre to the home. But this is `here and now', not something that may come in six or 10 years."

- © Fairfax NZ News