Rural Broadband Initiative phase two (RBI2)

What is the Rural Broadband Initiative phase two (RBI2)?

Further upgrade to rural broadband

Across the country these upgrades will see around 47,000 rural households and business with improved service, where capacity on congested rural broadband networks is increased.

Click here for the media release.

In 2017, Crown Infrastructure Partners (CIP) assessed that 90,000 rural households and businesses cannot access broadband speeds of at least 20 Mbps download. The RBI2 programme aims to reduce this number as much as possible.

RBI2 seeks to provide fast broadband to the greatest number of under-served rural homes and businesses within the funding available, and contribute towards achieving similar rates of access to fast broadband by rural end users across all regions of New Zealand

CIP has contracted to provide enhanced broadband for approximately 84,000 of these 90,000 households and businesses (including some commercial coverage from mobile operators) commencing deployment in 2018 and will be substantially complete by 2022.

CIP is partnering with the Rural Connectivity Group (RCG) (a joint venture between Spark, Vodafone and 2 degrees) to provide RBI2 coverage.

Alongside this, CIP is partnering with fifteen regional Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs):

Broadband extended to 99.8% of the population

  • 83,861 rural households and businesses
  • 1,405km of State Highways
  • 133 tourism areas

Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Minister Kris Faafoi have announced that significant additional rural broadband and mobile coverage will be deployed around the country over the next four years due to the expansion of the Rural Broadband Initiative phase two/Mobile Black Spots Fund (RBI2/MBSF) programme.

Click here for the press release.

For more information on this additional rural broadband and mobile coverage, see this fact sheet.

Follow this link for more information on new coverage.

Where is RBI2 Coverage?

Rural and remote areas are generally more expensive for telecommunication network providers to serve than cities and suburban areas due to difficult terrain, geographical isolation and low population densities.

In order to address this problem, the Government has allocated $150 million to be invested in improving broadband and mobile coverage in rural and remote areas.

The deployment schedule and coverage information for RBI2 is now available on the National Broadband Map www.broadbandmap.nz

An address checker is available on the map where you can type in your address to see if and when you will receive RBI2 broadband coverage. This will show both planned and actual coverage and give an indication of the timing for planned coverage.

The company providing service in your area is listed on the Availability Report when you search your address.

Type in your address below to see if you can get RBI2 coverage:

When is RBI2 going to be available at my place?

The deployment schedule for RBI2 is now available on the National Broadband Map  www.broadbandmap.nz

An address checker is available on the map where you can type in your address to see when you will receive RBI2 broadband coverage. This will show both planned and actual coverage and give an indication of the timing for planned coverage.

The company providing service in your area is listed on the Availability Report when you search your address.

Type in your address below to see if you can get RBI2 coverage:

Please note that Scheduling is indicative and may change without notice. Actual coverage will depend on site availability, consenting and other matters.

RBI2 coverage goes as far as it can with the current funding. The aim is to close as much of the digital divide as possible. If you find that your address is not showing as due to receive coverage on the National Broadband Map [please register your address here

Who Builds the RBI2 Network?

CIP has partnered with ten companies to deploy RBI2 across New Zealand.

CIP has contracted with the Rural Connectivity Group to bring 4G mobile and wireless broadband coverage to rural New Zealand under the Rural Broadband Initiative Phase Two and the Mobile Black Spot Fund

Regional Wireless Internet Service Providers

FEATURE WISP:

Primo

Started With Fireworks And Never Looked Back

WISP Profile by Ernie Newman

How do I get connected to RBI2?

To get a connection from an RBI2 partner, you will need to contact the partner (if they are a ‘wireless internet service provider’ (WISP) or one of the mobile network operators Spark, 2Degrees and Vodafone, depending on where you live.

To find out who to contact, we recommend you enter your address on the National Broadband Map. The coverage information and deployment schedule for RBI2 is now available on the map, and if your address is going to receive RBI2 coverage, then the map will indicate when, and which provider to contact.

First, type in your address to see if and when you will receive RBI2 broadband coverage.

Click on the ‘Wireless’ button on the key on the bottom right hand side of the page.

The map will then show you both planned and actual coverage by provider or retailer (and give an indication of the timing for planned coverage) in the availability report on the left-hand side.

You will be able to click on the provider or retailer’s logo to find out their service offering and how to contact them.

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