In an announcement made on Monday, the Government offered Crown Fibre Holdings (CFH), a New Zealand-owned broadband Company, 15 bids for the Government's Ultra-Fast Broadband project. The project aims on subsidizing the establishment of a fiber network, which connects 75% of the New Zealand population, including houses, as well as businesses, within the next 10 years. The scheme involves extending fibers along 33 areas.

CFH invited investment partners to take part in this $1.5 billion scheme, receiving the Companies' proposals until last Saturday. According to Simon Allen, the Crown Fibre Holdings Chairman, CFH will start making recommendations to shareholders regarding the chosen partners in October 2010. One of the main candidates is Telecom New Zealand Corporation Ltd., the biggest telecommunication provider in the country. Other candidates are Vodafone and Vectors, along with the Canadian Axia.

In an attempt to get the bid, Telecom announced a coming demerge; splitting its assets and shares into two Companies, and, consequently Chorus2 would come to life as an independent entity. Financial details about that demerge has not been discussed publicly yet.

Steven Joyce, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, expressed its support for the scheme and for the partners taking part in it. The Minister also added that he welcomes the contributions of Telecom in the bid.