The Idea

Gigatown was an online and real world competition developed by Chorus to help educate and inspire New Zealanders about the possibilities that a country connected with ultra-fast broadband can provide.

When the competition kicked off in October 2013, 50 towns from around New Zealand signed up to become the country’s first Gigatown. In September 2014, only five towns made it through to the final round - Dunedin, Gisborne, Nelson, Timaru and Wanaka.

To earn points in the competition, supporters created relevant discussions on social media with town-specific hashtags, and completed different challenges that focused on the social and economic benefits of gigabit services.

In the final round, each town submitted a Plan for Gig Success that outlined how they plan to use gigabit services to foster new ways of learning, playing and conducting business. In October 2014, Chorus took representatives from the five finalist towns to Chattanooga in Tennessee, US so they could witness the real benefits of gigabit broadband connectivity. Have a look here to see how Chattanooga has transformed itself