The Ultra-Fast Broadband Initiative is a New Zealand Government programme that aims to bring high-speed fibre to 75% of NZ homes and businesses over 10 years.
The company that manages the $1.5 billion project is Crown Fibre Holdings (CFH), a Crown-owned company.
CFH has also partnered up with Northpower, Waikato Networks, Enable Services and Chorus to help implement the initiative.
At this stage, around 19 of New Zealand's towns and cities have access to UFB, providing Kiwi businesses with the opportunity to further improve day to day operations.
For businesses looking to install UFB, fellow fibre user and owner of Buildmedia Gareth Ross describes the process as a simple switch over.
Buildmedia made the move to fibre in June 2013 and Ross says all up it would have taken about a week and a half.
"It's been fantastic, it really has changed our lives," he says.
"The installation process went pretty smoothly, there were a number of contractors involved and there was an initial contractor that came through to install all the cabling," explains Ross.
"We use it on a daily basis, all of our systems are actually online and on the cloud," he says.
Ross adds that their reasoning behind the switch was due to the existing copper network slowing down a lot. For businesses looking to get into fibre, Ross suggests doing some searches through internet providers.
"I would have a look through their plans online as to what their costs are and compare them with each other," explains Ross.
"I would also go to the Chorus website and go to the map and actually see whether fibre is available in the area," he says.
Mike Lott, spokesperson for Chorus, says the processes for any business getting fibre installed are really straightforward.
"All we do is bring fibre from a place in the street, through into the building, and then from the entry point of the building through to the right room - which is typically a server room," he explains.
Lott adds that there are two things that businesses can do to make the installing process as smooth as possible.
"First thing, talk to your landlord in advance. Talk to them about how easy Fibre is to be installed and how important it is for you as a business," he says.
"The second thing is to think about the IT change over, and talk to your IT provider about getting them ready and on site to manage any complications.
In regards to pricing, Ross says that they're pretty comparable for what his business was paying for copper.
"If your business relies on the internet at all, and you've got fibre on the street, you'd be silly not to take it up.
See a video of the experience here.
