Northpower awarded fibre funds

Northpower Fibre has been awarded $734,000 to connect 367 households in Northland to ultrafast broadband (UFB).

This includes 61 households on Gumdiggers Lane in Mangawhai Heads and 79 households in Dargaville.

Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones says the funding will come from a $50 million digital infrastructure package announced last month.

In a statement sent to media today, Mr Jones indicated there would also be investment into rural Auckland, but details are yet to be announced.

Northpower will also be putting $166,000 towards installing the new connections in Northland.

Chief executive Darren Mason says construction in Mangawhai and Dargaville will start after the Christmas break.

He says it will be free for residents to have their houses connected to the street infrastructure.

Northpower Fibre has already invested over $60 million into building its UFB network in Northland.

Darren expects that connections in Ruawai, Paparoa, Maungaturoto, Kaiwaka, Mangawhai, Waipu and Ruakaka will be completed by the end of this year.

A total of 4000 households in Kaipara are already connected to the UFB network.