Spark reaches tipping point in upgrade of NZ broadband

Spark New Zealand Limited
ARBN 050 611 277 Spark City, 167 Victoria Street West, Private Bag 92028, Auckland, New Zealand


MARKET RELEASE
21 June 2018

Spark reaches crucial tipping point in ambition to upgrade New
Zealand’s broadband

Spark has announced that more than 50% of its broadband customers have now
voted with their feet and moved away from copper (ADSL and VDSL), onto new
broadband technologies. Around 34% are now on fibre and 16% on wireless
broadband (delivered over Spark’s 4G and 4.5G mobile networks).

This milestone shows Spark is making solid progress towards its ambition of having
at least 85% of its broadband customers upgraded to new, future-proofed
broadband technologies by the end of June 2020. Two years ago, Spark had just
16% of customers on these new technologies and a year ago was tracking at 37%
(at the end of June 2017).

Grant McBeath, Interim CEO of Spark Home, Mobile and Business said, “This marks
a critical tipping point for New Zealand households, who are increasingly seeing the
need for upgraded broadband as things like video streaming move into the
mainstream. We are now in a world where households on copper are fast becoming
the minority.

McBeath said customers who had made the move were enjoying the benefits of the
new technologies, with satisfaction scores from those on fibre and wireless
broadband higher than those on copper. The growth of content streaming, gaming
and the need for a reliable, high quality connection were all big drivers of the shift –
something McBeath expects to intensify over the coming year.

"With Spark set to stream the 2019 Rugby World Cup we expect even more New
Zealanders will be thinking about how they can get match fit internet, ensuring their
home is ready to go with the best possible streaming capability and experience."

According to MBIE, by March 2018 there were over 1.3 million users able to connect
to UFB fibre, but only 550,000 (42%) had made the switch. Uptake is on the rise
though, with 44,000 users connecting in the most recent quarter.
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Spark New Zealand Limited
ARBN 050 611 277 Spark City, 167 Victoria Street West, Private Bag 92028, Auckland, New Zealand


“Obviously fibre is a fantastic technology for households who are using a lot of data,
and where it is the right technology for them we’re trying to transition as many
customers as possible over to a fibre connection. We’ve done a lot of work
with Chorus, Enable, Ultrafast Fibre, Northpower and Unison to simplify and
streamline the installation process. With the uptake of fibre accelerating as
customers see the benefits and more addresses have fibre as an option, this work
will continue,” McBeath explained.

“For customers who are not such big data users or who don’t have fibre available,
wireless broadband is a great option.

“Spark has invested heavily in its mobile network to ensure the experience on
wireless broadband is a good one. Over the past year the company switched on 39
new 4.5G sites across the country to bring wireless broadband to thousands more
households, and introduced larger 240GB plans in some areas. With 5G on the
horizon, Spark’s investment in wireless capabilities will only increase.

“There are still many households around New Zealand who could choose to upgrade
from copper to either fibre or wireless broadband today – we’d encourage them to
do it!”

- ENDS –
For media queries, please contact:
Lucy Fullarton
Communications Partner
+64 (0) 21 070 6197

For investor relations queries, please contact:
Dean Werder
General Manager Finance and Business Performance
+64 (0) 27 259 7176

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http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/sectors-industries/technology-communications/fast-
broadband/documents-image-library/03-mar-quarterly-broadband-update.pdf