Fibre for Auckland

Auckland City Council is planning a 100 km fibre loop, plus a wireless network in the CBD.

Wellington businesses are fortunate that WCC did similar around a decade ago, resulting in the now privately owned Citylink with their fibre and Cafenet products.

The Auckland plan seems a good step forward, based on the details reported. I think the Council does have a legitimate role in providing key infrastructure such as roads and fibre. Now that is not to say it shouldn’t eventually be user pays, but to a degree one has to build the infrastructure before companies can start offering services over it. And it is best that the fibre owner is not a service provider so one doesn’t get the problems we have had with the copper local loop.