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Fibre optic port - Source: ONE News / CNN -
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Tauranga-based internet company EOL is making its mark in the online world.
The family-owned business, founded 15 years ago, scored top marks in a Consumer magazine satisfaction survey - the first and only ISP ever to achieve such a feat.
It has also been named the provider of New Zealand's fastest internet.
EOL has 70 sub-repeaters around the Bay of Plenty, sending wireless as far north as Waihi and as far south as Matata.
It has succeeded in the Tauranga market as other ISPs fell by the wayside, most notably Telstra Clear's $50 million wireless network, which was canned three months before its launch in 2007.
"I guess we got the luxury of being here first and getting a big network running before the competitors arrived," says EOL head Terry Coles.
Coles says the ISP game is tough because of the reliance on central infrastructure - old copper technology.
"Getting into wireless was the best thing we ever did, because that enabled us to stay ahead of competition."
EOL operates entirely on its own infrastructure, giving it control over the entire network, and does not even have a call centre.
EOL has tapped into the Bay of Plenty's housing subdivision market, an area of intense growth.
"We can have the infrastructure in (within) a week. We don't have to dig trenches, we don't have to do anything like that. We just bring wireless in over the treetops, over the hills and onto lamposts. We can beat the competition by a long, long way," says Coles.
The company also claims a large share of the regional kiwifruit industry as customers.
"(It's) not only being used for connecting to the internet, it's used for joining all their facilities together so they have a private intranet on their network. Being rural they would be hanging out for a long time if it wasn't for wireless."
Coles says EOL plans to expand into neighbouring regions.
"There's no reason why this model couldn't be taken national in time, because it's quite modular and scalable."
