Ultimate Broadband is proud and excited to be partnering with Crown Infrastructure Partners to not only upgrade our existing wireless broadband network but expand to new areas in the greater Canterbury region.
With 86 commercial broadband transmission sites already, Ultimate Broadband is adding more than 45 new transmission sites to its network as part of the RBI 2 partnership. This exciting project will enable Ultimate Broadband to offer its services to more customers throughout the region, increase peak speeds, improve mobile signal, and provide even greater value to its new and existing customers.
The RBI 2 project will enable more hard to reach customers to get high speed broadband services, rural businesses to have access to high speed dedicated broadband / data services and consumer customers the ability to connect at faster speeds with greater volumes of data.
Our network will expand coverage into Ashburton, Selwyn, Timaru, Waimate, Mackenzie & Waitaki districts. Ultimate Broadband is already working with local district councils in most of these districts to expedite the process.
Ultimate Broadband are proud to announce that we have being successful in securing further funding with the RBI 2 Expansion program announced Tuesday 18th December 2018 – see details here This second tranche of funding extends our current RBI 2 build and upgrade program over the next 2-3 years and includes new expansion particularly in Selwyn and Banks Peninsula areas.
More about RBI 2
With an investment of over $2 million over a 4 year build program, between Ultimate Broadband and Crown Infrastructure Partners, the completed network will be one of the largest of it’s kind in New Zealand. The RBI 2 Rural broadband partnership will benefit both new and existing customers as the network consists of backbone upgrades and enhancements as well as new coverage to improve both speeds and capacity.
New technology will be deployed further enhancing our capability, this includes the use of our licensed spectrum resources for better performance and speeds. With significant technology advancements for fixed wireless, we hope to be offering near fibre services by the end of the project where possible. Ultimate Broadband will also upgrade all of it’s commercial sites to support peak speeds of up to 50Mbps or more, this includes sites not included in the RBI 2 partnership funding.
Ultimate Broadband will expand on its strategic back haul relationships with EA networks adding Enable, Chorus and Alpine Fibre to it’s fibre partner list. Fibre services to complement its wireless network will be available over time in most areas services by these fibre networks.
The project kicks off this month (January 2018) with several new sites including major sites at Peel Forest and Waihi Gorge expected to be live by the end of March ready for new and existing client migrations along with several existing site upgrades in that time period. The project is expected to be completed late in 2020.
For more info or to find out when we expect to upgrade or cover your area, home or business contact us via our contact form or call 0800 000 945 and talk to our team.
Current network including completed RBI 2 new and upgraded coverage at September 2021
Current network plus planned RBI 2 additional coverage