From Peter Harris, Independent Chair
"The UFB Working Party is close to achieving our objective of delivering a suite of standards covering the implementation of Ultrafast broadband throughout New Zealand. It hasn't been without considerable effort from all those involved.
In just under three months the Working Party has come together in meetings for a total of around 10 days (or 80 hours). In between the meetings, various champions have beavered away at producing new diagrams, the words and the numbers behind the standards. As I mentioned in my last update, periods of chaos and order often arise on these types of task – and this has proved to be very true. The team have done an excellent job working through contentious matters that are often the cause of the chaos, and we have achieved agreement on virtually all aspects of our work - quite an achievement.
Moving forwards, there is more essential work to do to ensure that the TCF UFB standards dovetail with the plans that Crown Fibre Holdings have to organise the roll out of the fibre. Engagement with those involved with New Zealand's commercial and residential buildings is necessary too. Further discussion and debate will no doubt occur during the public consultation stage of our work with other interested parties.
What we have almost achieved is a robust framework of standards that has established the playing field and highlighted key risks to ensuring Government achieve their aims to have Ultrafast Broadband accessible to 75% of us.
More specifically, our drafting work on Layer 1 and Layer 2 documents is nearing completion. Our work on OSS/BSS continues with a milestone at the end of September for completion. At our last meeting, the OSS/BSS team mapped out our action plan to achieve this deadline and we're on track ... I don't doubt that there is more 'chaos' to come as we narrow the wedge and get down to the nitty gritty on this workstream!
Thank you to everybody who has contributed to the Working Party and a particular thanks to all those that have 'held the pen' on specific documents."