Connections boosted by nearly 200 homes switching to fibre broadband in recent weeks.

Christchurch fibre network provider Enable now has over 1,000 fibre broadband connections over its network. It has almost doubled its number of connections since partnering with the Government in May 2011 to deliver ultra-fast broadband (UFB) to the greater Christchurch community.

“Enable was formed just over five years ago to provide increased competition in the commercial fibre broadband market and to make fibre services available to more businesses at affordable prices,” said Enable CEO, Steve Fuller.

“The majority of our connections have historically been with customers requiring high-end commercial services and is a tremendous result for Enable.”

Today, more than 28 different retail service providers are delivering a wide range of commercial fibre services to businesses, schools, healthcare facilities and government organisations over Enable’s fibre network giving the customer a wide range of choice.

Winning the Government UFB partnership transformed Enable from a niche fibre provider to a large-scale telecommunications infrastructure provider, virtually overnight. Enable is now building a mass-market fibre broadband network to around 180,000 homes and commercial businesses.

Six weeks ago, Enable launched fibre-to-the-home services in Christchurch for the first time to 5,000 potential fibre broadband users in Halswell. This week it has launched to a further 2,500 in Papanui and Bishopdale and more will soon follow.

“Our connection volumes have increased considerably since our residential launch in mid-September with nearly 200 homes making the move to fibre broadband in Halswell – representing close to 5% initial uptake which is very pleasing,” said Mr Fuller.

“More retail service providers will be launching residential services in the coming weeks. Early indications are that many more hundreds of homes in Halswell are ready to move over to fibre broadband services.”