‘International operator’ vies for govt broadband investment

A proposal from an “experienced international fibre operator” is among the 33 received by Crown Fibre Holdings (CFH) from companies wishing to participate in the government’s Ultra-Fast Broadband Initiative, CFH said yesterday.

CFH has been established to manage the government’s $1.5 billion investment in broadband infrastructure over the next 10 years. It has been charged with selecting commercial partners for the government based on the proposals received before its January 29 submissions deadline.

CFH chairman Simon Allen said the 33 proposals had come from 18 respondents and included two “competitive national solutions". Interested parties include telecommunications giant Telecom and an “experienced international fibre operator” that Allen neglected to name.

A CFH spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on who the international fibre operator was, but PC World understands that the content of the submissions is commercially sensitive and will not be released to the public.

Allen said CFH had received proposals for fibre rollout in all 33 of the nominated local fibre areas and it was “very pleasing” that there were number of proposals from regional New Zealand which had strong community support.

“There is no doubt that, given the quantity of proposals received, that CFH has a number of options to meet the government requirement of rolling out ultra-fast broadband to 75% of New Zealand’s population.”

CFH would announce an indicative timetable within the next two weeks for assessing and selecting a preferred partner, Allen said.