Ventia announced it has been awarded a contract with Chorus New Zealand to deploy services for the third phase of the Ultra Fast Broadband infrastructure rollout.

This phase extends Ultra Fast Broadband to 180 small towns, beach locations and city fringe areas, from Tokanui in the deep south to Pukenui in the far north.

The contract complements Visionstream's existing contract with Chorus, a 10-year agreement that is currently in year seven.

Under the new contract, Visionstream will deploy more than 1,800 km of new fibre across New Zealand, enabling 60,000 more customers to connect to Ultra Fast Broadband.

"We are thrilled to continue to be a major construction partner for Chorus as they deliver better broadband to homes, schools and businesses to the further reaches of New Zealand," said Andrew Todd, country manager for Visionstream New Zealand.

Chorus CEO Kate McKenzie said, "We look forward to continuing our work with Visionstream to bring fibre to the smaller towns and fringe areas of New Zealand.

Better broadband can make a huge difference to consumers, students and business owners.

Visionstream has provided services to Chorus since 2009. This includes designing and building the Ultra Fast Broadband network in Auckland and the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) across the upper North Island, as well as connecting end customers to the Ultra Fast Broadband network across much of New Zealand.

Construction will begin in October 2018 and is expected to be completed by the end of September 2022.