Lucky Hikurangi will be the first town in Northland to see the second wave of ultra-fast fibre broadband. Up till now, Northpower’s fibre has only been available in central Whangarei and the suburbs, but a new round of funding has made “UFB2” possible. $210 million is to be spent in total between 2017 and 2024 to connect up nearly 450,000 New Zealanders in 151 towns. The Government has made Northland a priority and all 14 Northland towns scheduled for fibre will be up and running by early 2021.
Hikurangi started out as a timber and gum digging town, then became a coal mining centre. More recently it’s become the centre of a dairy farming district with a thriving local business community and many social and sporting clubs. Just 16 km north of Whangarei, it’s typical of the regional townships where the government wants to deliver better connectivity.
Northpower Fibre has started building in Hikurangi already and the first connections will be live on 29 September, so if you live in Hikurangi or are considering moving there, you’re in luck. Nearly 600 properties will be able to be connected to the new service which will be capable of up to a Gigabit per second download – faster than most of us will need, but it’s great to know you can get it! We’ll keep you posted as the build starts in other areas but if you live in Waipu or One Tree Point, you’re next in line. Builds start next year in Dargaville, Ruakaka and Mangawhai.
Uber is the only local provider for ultrafast fibre broadband so if you’d like to make sure you’re one of the first in Hikurangi to be connected, you can join those who’ve prebooked already. Just call 0508 BROADBAND, email ultrafast [at] uber [dot] nz or better still come in and see us at 53 Port Road.
