Chorus to trial live 4K broadcasting service over fibre

Chorus Limited
Level 10, 1 Willis Street
P O Box 632
Wellington 6140
Email: company.secretary@chorus.co.nz

STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT

26 March 2018


Chorus to trial live 4K broadcasting service over fibre

Chorus has today announced that it will commence a proof of concept trial using its
fibre network to provide a direct broadcasting service to consumers’ homes.

The service would run in parallel to any broadband service also provided over the
fibre, using a second port on the Optical Network Terminal installed in homes, to
connect to consumers’ TVs.

A strength of the proposed Chorus service is that it can provide guaranteed capacity,
which would ensure major cultural events such as sports could be broadcast to all
viewers, live and concurrently, in 4K or even 8K.

As such, Chorus anticipates the service will be of interest to local broadcasters who
are looking for a way to provide their content to viewers without requiring an ISP
partner or developing an over the top application that runs over the public internet
and therefore makes quality control more challenging.

“As consumer demands for ever greater quality of video such as 4K, along with
emerging technologies like multi-camera and interactive services, continue to grow,
it’s clear that traditional broadcasting technologies will be challenged to meet those
demands long term,” said Kate McKenzie, Chorus CEO.

“New Zealand’s fibre network is a major national asset, and by 2022 will have greater
coverage of the population than terrestrial broadcasting.

“Without this proposed Chorus service, local broadcasters will need to partner with
major ISPs while facing competition from massive overseas content companies, and
this dynamic could put the ability to tell local stories and produce local content at risk.

“Chorus is an open access wholesale provider of infrastructure and would aim to
provide this broadcasting service on an entirely equivalent basis to all local content
providers who are interested.

“This is a great example of opportunities to use the investment that has been made in
fibre to deliver greater value than simply regulated fixed line broadband services
alone,” she said.

“SkyTV welcomes the proof of concept trial and looks forward to participating to
understand how it might be able to work for our business,” said John Fellett, CEO
SkyTV.

“We are continually exploring ways to get our content to as many viewers as possible
and welcome the addition of another potential option,” he said.

The Proof of Concept trial would commence in May and steps towards a commercial
service will follow once the trial is complete.

Chorus remains committed to providing congestion free broadband. The sizeable
capacity in the fibre network, along with the ease with which even greater capacity
can be added at a later date if required, means the broadcasting service would be
able to run in parallel without impacting on broadband use at any time.


ENDS

For further information:
Ian Bonnar
GM Corporate Relations
Mobile: +64 (27) 215 7564
Email: ian.bonnar@chorus.co.nz
Brett Jackson
Investor Relations Manager
Phone: +64 4 896 4039
Mobile: +64 (27) 488 7808
Email: brett.jackson@chorus.co.nz