“It’s great to have Rangiora’s fibre network build complete,” said Enable Chief Executive, Steve Fuller. “Rangiora township is the largest community after Christchurch that we are bringing our fibre broadband to. It will be exciting to see how the local community embraces our world-class fibre broadband service.”

When Enable completed its network roll-out in other towns – most notably Rolleston and Lincoln – it has seen these communities embrace the benefits and possibilities of fibre broadband at a tremendous rate. For example, in Lincoln over half of the community is connected and in Rolleston seven in every ten families and businesses are now enjoying the very best internet experience over Enable fibre broadband.

“Exactly how the benefits of a super reliable and ultra-fast broadband service are being realised in our local towns varies from customer to customer,” said Mr Fuller.

“For business owners, it can mean being able to run a digital business close to home, rather than having to have an office in the city, or being able to reach customers around the country or world from a small Canterbury town. For families, the benefits include accessing online entertainment options easily, connecting with family and friends, and learning in new ways.

“We believe the people of Rangiora can now grab the opportunity to be one of the most connected communities in New Zealand – alongside Rolleston and Lincoln – and we sincerely hope you do.”

Enable had previously made its fibre broadband services available to about a third of the town, with a focus on reaching the business community and schools. About a quarter of the Rangiora community has already connected to fibre broadband including all schools, several hundred businesses and almost one thousand homes.

“We thank you – the people of Rangiora – for your support as we have built the network. It is great to see around 1,500 families and businesses already connected to greater opportunities and enjoying Enable’s fibre broadband service,” said Mr Fuller.

There are only benefits to be gained from making the switch to fibre broadband for both families and business owners right across greater Christchurch. A fibre broadband service is generally about the same price as an old copper-based broadband service, and it doesn’t usually cost residential customers anything to connect and very little for businesses to do so.

“Most importantly, people in our community should grab the opportunity to connect now to ensure their internet connection does not restrict what they can do online today or what online services they can take advantage of in the future,” added Mr Fuller.

Enable now has almost 55,000 customers connected across its greater Christchurch network, and is connecting around 100 customers a day to fibre broadband. It is about 85 percent of the way through its network roll-out with an end goal of reaching 180,000 homes and businesses. In Waimakariri, Enable is now focused on making services available to the remaining parts of Kaiapoi and Woodend. The Kaiapoi roll-out will be complete by the end of 2017 and Woodend by early next year.

Rangiora school offers more subject options with fibre broadband

Rangiora New Life School Principal Stephen Walters says an instant and seamless connection has revolutionised the way the school operates.

“We’re able to seamlessly stream classes for students that we can’t physically offer. That access can be very important to some students and their families. For example, we have a student enrolled in NCEA Level 2 French who connects via video to a French teacher in Southland along with other students from across the South Island. The same goes for a student enrolled in Te Reo – that cultural connection was very important to her family.

“We have about 20 students in the same boat who are no longer restricted by our curriculum as we can cater for almost anything. It’s now not a problem those students being the only one in the class.

“It’s instant and the connection and learning experience is seamless.”

Rangiora Bakery owner believes fibre broadband is a no brainer for local businesses

Rangiora Bakery Managing Director Ron van Til said switching to fibre broadband has improved their business operation and the experience of having it installed was seamless.

“Fibre broadband has opened opportunities for our business from many perspectives. Everything is instant now – we used to wait for EFTPOS transactions to go through. Now it happens straight away.

“The efficiencies we’ve achieved – including cost savings – has meant we are now a slicker operation. My advice to any business who has not made the switch is: Do it. It’s at your door and you’re doing yourself a disservice by not having it.”

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Media contact:
Daniel Herd
Strategic Communications Manager
Enable
Daniel.herd@enable.net.nz
027 694 3574