| Fibre Optic |
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By John Keast - The laying more fibre optic cable around Ashburton district would be driven by consumer demand, Electricity Ashburton (EA) says. EA is spending $5m in putting fibre – the world’s fastest cxommunication medium – underground. Administration manager Brendon Quinn said the company saw the need for fast rural data access and was spending $5m on its pilot rollout of fibre. That would involve laying cable to substations and there was the potential to cover the district. Cabinets would set up at zone substations, with each capable of supplying data to 500 or more customers. Mr Quinn said the cable would be open access, meaning consumers could choose any internet service provider (ISP). “We just supply the infrastructure,” he said. He said once ducting was laid in the ground, there was the possibility of “blowing” in more cable should it need to be replaced. Mr Quinn said EA had worked with the 25 schools in the district, meaning they would be able to share data. Ducting for fibre had also been laid in many urban streets. The district council had also offered EA the use of obsolete mains. By Christmas the company will have 120km of fibre laid south of Ashburton, and the focus would then shift to north of Ashburton. He said the speed of fibre was limited only by the electronics at each end, and when people moved from the current broadband to fibre they would not know themselves because it was so fast. It was so fast it made boradband look like dial-up, he said. Mr Quinn said Mid Canterbury had many multi-million dollar businesses which would benefit enormously from fibre. He said the company was focusing heavily on laying fibre and might have all of Mid Canterbury connected in a decade. |
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