The New Zealand government has decided to invest NZ$1.5 billion to start a government owned corporation to get fiber internet to its residents. Their goal is to get the fiber to 75% of the homes by 2020. Residents that are lucky enough to get it will be getting a minimum of 100Mbps down and 50Mbps up with a choice of providers.
The government run company is named Crown Fibre Holdings Limited and its mission is "focusing on building new infrastructure, and not unduly preserving the 'legacy assets' of the past" and "avoiding 'lining the pockets' of existing broadband network providers."
How the program works, according to Ars Technica, "every fiber builder who takes government money needs to lay basic, unmanaged dark fiber that any ISP can light in order to offer service to a particular home or business. The fiber companies can also run some particular Layer 2 services, but they can't offer full-blown Internet access directly. Instead, they are allowed to sell Internet access to their own retail unit so long as it operates like a separate business, and all other ISPs must be offered access at the same rate."
After the fiber build out is complete in 2020, Crown Fibre Holdings Limited will convert to a profit driven business to attempt to recover the money invested in the project. They will make their money by overseeing the network and taking a share of the revenue the ISPs generate from it.
Image Credit: Flickr user mamottux
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