New Zealand's Crown Fibre Holdings has begun negotiating binding offers with three regional fibre providers. The company managing New Zealand's Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) Initiative has picked NorthPower (covering the Whangarei area), the Central North Island Fibre Consortium (covering Hamilton, Tauranga, Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Tokoroa, New Plymouth, Hawera and Wanganui), and Alpine Energy (covering Timaru) for initial negotiations for the first stage roll-out, out of its shortlist of fourteen. Telecom New Zealand has issued a statement in response to the announcement emphasising that it has submitted a nation-wide proposal. Telecom has been shortlisted in all regions of the Ultra-fast Broadband initiative. Telecom estimates the areas covered by these three parties represents around 12 percent of the population of New Zealand. Telecom emphasised its proposal is national and its proposal would see structural separation of the company. Telecom said it remains open to partnership with other public and private sector owners of fibre assets, including the three parties prioritised for negotiation.
