Local government is on the frontline of housing developments, but there’s a critical piece of infrastructure that too often gets forgotten: digital connectivity, writes Sophie Flood from Chorus.
In 2025, high-speed internet is not a luxury – it’s the backbone of modern life. It powers remote work, online learning, telehealth, and social connection. It’s how families stay in touch, how businesses grow, and how communities thrive. Yet, in many new developments, open-access fibre broadband is still treated as an afterthought.
Fibre is the future
Homes go up, roads are sealed, families move in – and only then, when connectivity falls short of expectations, does the digging resume to retrofit what should’ve been there from the start. It’s disruptive, expensive, and entirely avoidable.
Fibre is the gold standard for broadband connectivity. It’s fast, reliable, and scalable – able to meet the long-term connectivity needs of growing communities.
But it’s not just about performance. Open-access fibre networks, like those built under the Ultra-Fast Broadband programme by Chorus and other Local Fibre Companies (LFCs), ensure that all internet service providers can operate over the same infrastructure. That means real choice for consumers, fair pricing, and healthy competition.
In short, fibre is not just the best technology for today, it’s the foundation for liveable, connected, future-ready communities.
Why council input is essential
Because there is no national regulation requiring fibre-ready infrastructure in new developments, even in areas where fibre is available, the responsibility to prevent connectivity gaps often falls to councils through planning and consenting processes.
When fibre isn’t included from the outset, the consequences are significant.
Homeowners expect fibre broadband to be available from day one, with the freedom to choose from a full range of retailers – and are blindsided when it’s not there. In many cases, if it’s not installed during construction, they may be left without fibre altogether, relying on slower, less reliable alternatives or locked into a limited choice of retailers or products.
This means frustration, delays, and sometimes a hefty bill – along with the disruption of having to retrofit connectivity into a brand-new home.
For councils, it’s a reputational risk, a source of avoidable complaints and a missed opportunity to build better.
Installing fibre after homes are built means re-opening roads and footpaths, reinstating berms, and coordinating multiple contractors after the fact.
By contrast, installing all essential infrastructure – water, power, transport and fibre – during the initial build is far more efficient. It reduces duplication of work, minimises disruption to residents, and avoids the environmental impact of repeated excavation.
It’s also more cost effective, with any communal infrastructure costs being shared across the yield of a development.
Early integration also allows for better design outcomes, particularly in higher-density developments where space for utilities is limited.
Building smart from the start
Fortunately, councils don’t need to wait for national regulation, most already have the ability under existing plan settings to require open-access fibre-ready infrastructure as part of subdivision consents and development approvals.
While these provisions can often be strengthened, and nationally consistent regulation would provide greater certainty, councils can act now by embedding requirements, engaging early with network operators, and ensuring connectivity is considered from the outset.
Enabling access, supporting local economies, and future-proofing communities are all essential outcomes of smart infrastructure planning.
Every new home should be built to meet the demands of the world we live in – not the one we’re leaving behind.