Dunedin municipality is planning a municipal fibre network to leverage on Aurora Energy’s distribution utility network. Aurora Energy Ltd is the council-owned electricity company which has applied for a $3 million share of the Government’s $340 million Broadband Investment Fund to help pay for the network.The city’s plan looks very similar to those of Sweden, Ireland and Greece. It will lay a 39Km metro fibre network and provide fibre connections to municipal buildings, key business, schools, and the city’s University and Hospital.
If indeed Telecom and TelstraClear are aiming that high then that is the first case I am aware of municipal plans for fibre network deployment in parallel with similar private investment plans… The questions remain: a) do they have a sound business case? and b) will they qualify for the government funding?
Speaking of public & private sector competition, just so you know Monticello has recently won the legal dispute with regional incumbent TDS over its planned municipal fibre network.
