The Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) Initiative is a partnership between the Crown and four private companies to install a fibre network across New Zealand. It is one of the largest and most ambitious civil engineering infrastructure projects ever undertaken in the country, with total government investment of $1.78b. 

Chorus, New Zealand's largest telecommunications utility company, is responsible for the majority of the fibre rollout. Chorus needed a partner to deploy UFB fibre-to-the-premises in the Auckland region (including Waiuku, Pukekohe and Waiheke Island) and awarded this contract to Ventia.

The nine-year contract, known as UFB1, includes design and construction of new fibre optic access networks along the street. This enables future connections from each property boundary. 

Ventia produces high-level designs and reviews them in the field to ensure they could be constructed safely, meet all technical standards, are cost-effective and have minimal impact on the community. 

The project involved a mix of underground work - trenching, drilling and hauling - as well as aerial deployment. The majority of the fibre network has been installed in public places, which has required extensive planning, consents and stakeholder management. 

UFB1 is in its ninth year, and all work will be completed by the end of 2019. Ventia has deployed UFB fibre to cabinets across the Auckland region. 

UFB2+ 

In August 2018, the Crown announced that Chorus would build a UFB network to another 187 towns and rural communities across New Zealand. Upon completion, fibre will pass an additional 52,000 premises, with rollout to finish by December 2022. Chorus awarded the contract for this build work to Ventia.

In total, under the full UFB programme, around 390 cities and towns will be able to access fibre by the end of 2022. At that time, 87% of New Zealanders will have access to fibre-to-the-premises (including 1% private fibre).

A large part of Ventia's success at winning this contract was our ability to rapidly scope and complete our Mid-Level Design for each town within a period of five weeks. We accomplished this substantial task by using our proprietary design optimisation software. (Find a sample of our Mid-Level Designs on the next page.)

Our Mid-Level Designs process results in a full bill of materials and other design documentation, accelerating the overall design process by many months. This gave our Chorus and Ventia the ability to undertake long-term planning, early order forecasting and cost certainty. 

Design work on the UFB2+ project began in January 2018, led by our network infrastructure team. The build work for UFB2+ began in October 2019.