Chorus 2021 full year results & annual report

Chorus Limited
Level 10, 1 Willis Street
P O Box 632
Wellington
New Zealand
Email: company.secretary@chorus.co.nz
STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT
23 August 2021
Chorus 2021 full year results, annual report & sustainability report
The following are attached in relation to Chorus’ FY21 full year results:
1.Media Release
2.Investor Presentation
3.Annual Report (including audited financial statements)
4.NZX Financial Results Announcement
5.NZX Distribution Notice
6.Sustainability Report
7.Letter to investors
Chief Executive Officer JB Rousselot, and Chief Financial Officer David Collins, will
discuss the FY21 full year results by webcast at 10.00am New Zealand time today. The
webcast will be available at www.chorus.co.nz/webcast.
Authorised by:
David Collins
Chief Financial Officer
ENDS
For further information:
Brett Jackson
Investor Relations Manager
Phone: +64 4 896 4039
Mobile: +64 (27) 488 7808
Email: brett.jackson@chorus.co.nz
Steve Pettigrew
Head of External Communications
Mobile: +64 (27) 258 6257
Email: steve.pettigrew@chorus.co.nz

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23 August 2021
Strong operational performance delivers 120,000 new fibre connections
Chorus today released its audited annual results confirming earnings before interest, tax,
depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of $649m for the year ended 30 June 2021.
Summary
• UFB uptake 65 per cent; Chorus rollout is 95 per cent complete
• 871,000 active fibre connections (FY20: 751,000)
• Average monthly data usage for fibre customers 500GB (FY20: 436GB)
• EBITDA for the year $649m (FY20: $648m)
• Net profit after tax was $47m (FY20: $52m)
• Operating revenue for the period was $947m (FY20: $959m)
• Operating expenses were $298m (FY20: $311m)
• Capital expenditure $672m (FY20: $663m)
• Depreciation and amortisation for the period was $425m (FY20: $402m)
• Earnings before interest and tax of $224m (FY20: $246m)
• Fully imputed final dividend of 14.5 cents per share, total for FY21 of 25 cps
Chorus' focus in FY21 was to help customers capitalise on the gigabit head start the fibre network
has given New Zealand. Over the year, fibre uptake grew from 60 to 65 per cent, with 120,000 new
fibre connections across 100 or so broadband retailers. Demand for reliable, high-capacity
broadband was evident, with gigabit connections growing from 16 to 19 per cent of Chorus' fibre
connections.
The ongoing surge in demand for internet data reflects broadband's role as an essential utility. The
monthly average household data usage, over copper and fibre and including both downloads and
uploads, grew from 350GB to 432GB across the year. Fibre customers consumed even more,
averaging 500GB in June, up from 436GB the year before. The latest lockdown has seen
unprecedented levels of throughput and data over the network.
Despite COVID-19 disruptions during FY21, customer satisfaction increased from 8.1 to 8.2 for
installations and 7.3 to 7.5 for service to homes with an existing or 'intact' fibre socket.
Softer market conditions due to the ongoing effects of COVID-19 on broadband demand, together
with competition from other fibre and wireless networks, resulted in a $12 million drop in revenue
compared with FY20. However, continued tight management of costs and the absence of one-off
COVID-19 costs incurred in FY20 helped Chorus achieve its goal of a modest increase in EBITDA.
Speaking about the results, Chorus CEO JB Rousselot said: "Despite the softer market in the wake of
COVID-19, we continued our active wholesaler strategy and were pleased to grow total fibre
connections to 871,000. We are well on the way to our target of one million connections next year.
“Today, there are about 140,000 homes and businesses that could switch on a fibre service in a
matter of hours if they chose to, and another 280,000 with fibre at their gate.

"Our UFB2 rollout continues to track ahead of schedule. Fibre passed another 69,000 premises
during the year. From Whitianga, with more than 3,000 premises, to Fox Glacier, with just 100 or so;
smaller and smaller communities are now getting connected to fibre."
Competition from alternative technologies
New Zealand has superb digital infrastructure that offers options to consumers about how they
choose to access broadband.
“We’re delighted to see that the vast majority of customers choose to pick fibre when they migrate
off the copper network”, said Mr Rousselot.
"We're comfortable with competition, but we believe customers should be given all the information
about the characteristics of different broadband services and time to consider their options rather
than being told their service is changing and they have to make a quick decision.
"Chorus is a tireless supporter of the Commerce Commission's Measuring Broadband New Zealand
programme. The analysis helps customers understand what performance they can expect from the
various broadband technologies available in the market.
“As the surge in data demand during the latest COVID-19 lockdowns shows, peak time capacity and
performance is what really matters for consumers.
"We're also encouraged by recent Commerce Commission proposals to require retailers to provide
clearer product disclosure for consumers.
“We believe that New Zealanders should be able to make informed decisions based on facts and
unbiased equivalent data, rather than partial information and hype. Saying a service is fast doesn’t
cut it if the speed slows significantly at peak times or when you’ve reached a certain data limit.”
Regulatory environment
Significant steps remain in the Commerce Commission's process to finalise the new fibre regulatory
model between now and 1 January 2022.
Fibre consumers will benefit from ongoing investment if the Commission’s final determinations
provide for:
1. A smooth transition into the new regime that drives Chorus to add more connections at
higher speeds
2. Sufficient operational and capital expenditure to let us meet the demands of our customers
3. The ability to continue with our active wholesaler strategy
4. Recognition of the full cost of building our UFB network and a fair return on the public-
private partnership investment made to build the fibre network over the last decade.
This should be underpinned by retail regulation that provides stronger consumer protections and
better information about broadband technologies.
Two aspects of the recent draft price-quality decision that Chorus is concerned about are proposed
capital and operating expenditure cuts, and the obligation of an additional, complex approval
process for offering retailer incentives to promote fibre.
"We feel that the incentives we offer equally to all retailers to promote fibre should not be subject
to a drawn-out approval process. Retailers keen to promote fibre need early certainty around these

incentives to plan their offerings and their campaigns and further approval processes would
hinder this.
"In our submissions to the Commission, we continue to make the case that some of the draft
outcomes don't fairly recognise the investment made over many years by our investors.
"It's critical that the actual value of our participation in this partnership is recognised so we can keep
investing in developing the capability and reliability of fibre broadband for New Zealand,” said Mr
Rousselot.

Dividend
Chorus will pay a final dividend of 14.5 cents per share, fully imputed, on 12 October 2021, bringing
total dividends for FY21 to 25 cents per share.

FY22 guidance
FY22 guidance is subject to no material changes in regulatory or competitive outlook.
• EBITDA: $640 − $660 million
• Capital expenditure: $550 − $590 million
• FY22 initial dividend guidance of 26 cents per share
ENDS
Chorus Chief Executive, JB Rousselot, and Chief Financial Officer, David Collins will discuss the full-
year results from 10.00am today, NZ time, at www.chorus.co.nz/webcast

For further information:
Steve Pettigrew
External Communications Manager
m: +64 27 258 6257
e: steve.pettigrew@chorus.co.nz
Brett Jackson
Investor Relations Manager
m: +64 27 488 7808
e: brett.jackson@chorus.co.nz

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Results announcement
(for Equity Security issuer/Equity and Debt Security issuer)
Updated as at 17 October 2019


Results for announcement to the market
Name of issuer Chorus Limited
Reporting Period 12 months to 30 June 2021
Previous Reporting Period 12 months to 30 June 2020
Currency New Zealand Dollars
Amount (000s) Percentage change
Revenue from continuing
operations
$947,000 -1%
Total Revenue $947,000 -1%
Net profit/(loss) from
continuing operations
$47,000 -10%
Total net profit/(loss) $47,000 -10%
Interim/Final Dividend
Amount per Quoted Equity
Security
$0.14500000
Imputed amount per Quoted
Equity Security
$0.05638889
Record Date 14 September 2021
Dividend Payment Date 12 October 2021
Current period Prior comparable period
Net tangible assets per
Quoted Equity Security
$1.45 $1.39
A brief explanation of any of
the figures above necessary
to enable the figures to be
understood
This announcement should be read in conjunction with the
attached annual report, audited financial statements for the year
ended 30 June 2021 contained in that report, media release and
investor presentation.
Authority for this announcement
Name of person

authorised
to make this announcement
David Collins
Chief Financial Officer
Contact person for this
announcement
Brett Jackson
Investor Relations Manager
Contact phone number +64 4 896 4039
Contact email address Brett.Jackson@chorus.co.nz
Date of release through MAP

23/08/2021

Audited financial statements accompany this announcement.

---

Distribution Notice

Updated as at 18 December 2019




Please note: all cash amounts in this form should be provided to 8 decimal places

Section 1: Issuer information
Name of issuer Chorus Limited
Financial product name/description Ordinary shares
NZX ticker code CNU
ISIN (If unknown, check on NZX
website)
NZCNUE0001S2
Type of distribution
(Please mark with an X in the
relevant box/es)
Full Year X Quarterly
Half Year Special
DRP applies X
Record date 14/09/2021
Ex-Date (one business day before the
Record Date)
13/09/2021
Payment date (and allotment date for
DRP)
12/10/2021
Total monies associated with the
distribution
1

$64,818,608
Source of distribution (for example,
retained earnings)
Retained earnings
Currency NZD
Section 2: Distribution amounts per financial product
Gross distribution
2
$0.20138889
Gross taxable amount
3
$0.20138889
Total cash distribution
4
$0.14500000
Excluded amount (applicable to listed
PIEs)
$0.00000000
Supplementary distribution amount $0.02558824
Section 3: Imputation credits and Resident Withholding Tax
5

Is the distribution imputed Fully imputed
Partial imputation
No imputation

1
Continuous issuers should indicate that this is based on the number of units on issue at the date of the form
2
“Gross distribution” is the total cash distribution plus the amount of imputation credits, per financial product, before the deduction of
Resident Withholding Tax (RWT).
3
“Gross taxable amount” is the gross distribution minus any excluded income.
4
“Total cash distribution” is the cash distribution excluding imputation credits, per financial product, before the deduction of RWT.
This should include any excluded amounts, where applicable to listed PIEs.
5
The imputation credits plus the RWT amount is 33% of the gross taxable amount for the purposes of this form. If the distribution is
fully imputed the imputation credits will be 28% of the gross taxable amount with remaining 5% being RWT. This does not constitute
advice as to whether or not RWT needs to be withheld.

If fully or partially imputed, please
state imputation rate as % applied
6

100%
Imputation tax credits per financial
product
$0.05638889
Resident Withholding Tax per
financial product
$0.01006944
Section 4: Distribution re-investment plan (if applicable)
DRP % discount (if any)
2%
Start date and end date for
determining market price for DRP
13/09/2021 17/09/2021
Date strike price to be announced (if
not available at this time)
21/09/2021
Specify source of financial products to
be issued under DRP programme
(new issue or to be bought on market)
New Issue
DRP strike price per financial product
$unknown
Last date to submit a participation
notice for this distribution in
accordance with DRP participation
terms
15/09/2021
Section 5: Authority for this announcement
Name of person

authorised to make
this announcement
David Collins
Chief Financial Officer
Contact person for this
announcement
Brett Jackson
Investor Relations Manager
Contact phone number
+64 27 488 7808
+64 4 896 4039
Contact email address Brett.Jackson@chorus.co.nz
Date of release through MAP

23/08/2021





6
Calculated as (imputation credits/gross taxable amount) x 100. Fully imputed dividends will be 28% as a % rate applied.

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Sustainability
Report 2021
This is Chorus’ first sustainability report,
reflecting our ambition and commitment to
support New Zealand in its transition to be
more sustainable.
Make
New Zealand
Better

Section Heading2Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Table of contents
Please consider the environment before printing this document. This report has not been independently verified.

Section Heading3Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Welcome from JB Rousselot
For the last decade we’ve been building our
fibre network, investing in critical infrastructure
and unleashing the digital potential for
New Zealand communities and businesses.
International research shows that the
wider adoption and development of digital
services in areas such as transportation,
energy, computing, construction, building
management, health, and education could
reduce carbon emissions globally by almost
a fifth. However, with more technology
adoption comes increased data needs and a
greater responsibility to create a sustainable
digital future.
We’ve already seen New Zealanders' appetite
for data grow rapidly in the last decade.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also accelerated
digital adoption, as more people discovered
how they could work, learn and connect online
from their home. We believe our fibre network
is not only reliable and future proofed in terms
of speed and data capacity, but also a low
emission technology.
COVID-19 also highlighted the digital divide,
and the challenges of those who don’t have
the access or skills to thrive in a digital world.
To combat digital inequality our goal is to
strengthen the digital capability of individuals,
communities and businesses.
At the heart of our sustainability approach
is our purpose, to make New Zealand better,
and we'll do this by championing digital futures,
supporting the wider environment and helping
people thrive. The next decade for Chorus will
be one of action, working together with the
industry, government and other organisations to
tackle climate change, commit to a sustainable
future and ensure in a digital era no one gets
left behind.
JB Rousselot
Chief Executive
The New Zealand Government’s commitment to global climate
change action and its target to be a carbon zero nation by 2050
will require change on a big scale. We believe our fibre broadband
network has an important part to play.
A decade of action

Make New Zealand Better4Chorus Sustainability Report 2021
Make New Zealand Better
Making New Zealand better means Chorus will
innovate and invest to deliver the best possible
services for New Zealanders empowering
the environmental, economic and societal
transformations ahead of us.

5Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Validating Our Approach
Validating our
sustainability approach
with stakeholders
The end of 2020 saw us run internal
workshops and materiality assessments
with external stakeholders to validate
our sustainability approach.
Material topics were developed during the first stage of
our workshops, as participants were asked to consider
how Chorus creates value and how Chorus could
contribute to a flourishing and sustainable future,
one that benefited customers, investors, community,
employees and the earth.
These ideas were crafted into concise material topics,
that were mapped to the New Zealand Treasury’s
Living Standards Framework, the Future-Fit Business
Benchmark, and the Sustainable Development Goals
as validation. The topics were further confirmed and
refined with the internal sustainability group to reach
a final draft state.
We asked stakeholders to rank this list of material
topics in terms of Chorus’ ability to create value
(see next page for rankings).

Section Heading6Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Materiality Assessment
Ethical business practices; diverse and inclusive workplace; health, safety and wellbeing were lower on the
priority list due to stakeholders generally feeling these are fundamental topics that must be done.
It’s important that Chorus continues to focus on these areas.
ETHICAL
BUSINESS
PRACTICE
DIVERSE &
INCLUSIVE
WORKPLACE
H E A LT H &
SAFETY
WELLBEING
Working with others on
digital inclusion is the
dominant way Chorus
can contribute positively
to a sustainable and value
creating society.
Chorus can contribute value by having a resilient and
reliable network that enables the digital economy.
However digital literacy is equally important for society
and Chorus should have a role in not only providing the
network but helping people know how to use it.
DIGITAL
INCLUSION
DIGITAL
LITERACY
NETWORK
RELIABILITY
Chorus should know its own environmental impact and
take steps to reduce any harm. Chorus also has a role to
champion a work from home culture and
distributed workforce.
ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT
SMART
COMMUNITIES
& ECONOMY
Materiality
assessment

Section Heading7Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Our Sustainability Strategy
Our refreshed
Sustainability Strategy
CHAMPION
DIGITAL FUTURES
TOA HANGARAU
T H R I V I N G
ENVIRONMENT
TE TAIAO PUAWAI
THRIVING
PEOPLE
NGA IWI
WHAI HUA
THE CHALLENGES AND
OUR COMMITMENT TO HELP
ASPIRATIONAL
GOALS
UN SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Natural resources are being used up faster than they can
regenerate, and vital environmental systems are being degraded
faster than they can recover. This threatens our standard of living
and the wellbeing of future generations.
WE WILL WORK TO REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS AND WASTE
TO LANDFILL ACROSS THE CHORUS ECOSYSTEM.
Accelerate our journey
towards carbon neutral
across the Chorus
ecosystem.
A digital world offers opportunity for New Zealand.
However inequality may increase if the infrastructure is built
without strengthening the digital capability of individuals,
communities and businesses.
WE WILL PARTNER WITH OTHERS TO HELP CLOSE THE
DIGITAL DIVIDE AND STRENGTHEN DIGITAL CAPABILITY.
Help more Kiwis participate
in a positive digital life; using
the greenest, fastest, most
reliable broadband.
We are the digital connection backbone for New Zealand,
operating in an industry with constant changes.
We also partner with strategic suppliers who deliver our services
on the ground.
WE WILL CHAMPION SAFE, FAIR AND INCLUSIVE WORKPLACES
ACROSS NEW ZEALAND SO MORE PEOPLE CAN LEAD
FULFILLING AND BALANCED LIVES.
Known leaders in:
• Health & Safety
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Worker Welfare
• Wellbeing & Flexible
working.

8Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021UN Sustainable Development Goals
Our contribution
to the United Nations
Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs)
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all
United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint
for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into
the future.
Chorus contributes to most of the SDGs in four key ways:
1
2
3
4
By the investment made in our
fibre infrastructure.
By responsibly operating our business.
Through our focus on people
and environment.
Through our social responsibility
activities and community involvement.

9Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Sustainability Governance
Sustainability
governance
Our sustainability strategy has been
adopted by our executive leadership team
with endorsement from the Chorus Board.
Our newest director, Kate Jorgensen, has previously
been a member of the Sustainable Business Council
Advisory Board.
The three sustainability pillars have been integrated into
our company strategy (see purpose below and Chorus
strategy on page 10).
They are supported at an organisational level by our
Sustainability Council, with representation drawn
from across a range of business areas. The Council
collectively promotes our sustainability strategy, leads
and contributes to programmes of work that support
our targets and helps identify new opportunities, such as
initiatives to reduce our emissions and waste.
Working together
We continue to work with a wide range of groups and
organisations. In FY21, this has included:
Industry and government organisation memberships:
TUANZ, the Telecommunications Forum (TCF), Local
Government New Zealand, Hugo Group and BusinessNZ.
Other memberships:
Sustainable Business Council, Corporate Taxpayers
Group, NZ Shareholders Association, Chartered
Accountants Australia, Electrical Engineers Association,
Global Listed Infrastructure Organisation, Property
Council of New Zealand and Mentemia.
Sponsorships/partnerships:
• Dignity (Women’s Health)
• Take a Breath (Mental Health)
• Innovative Young Minds
• Rainbow Excellence Awards
• Big Gay Out Auckland
• Auckland and Wellington Pride Parades
• NZ TechWeek
• Tech21 to help inspire young people to consider
a tech career.
• BusinessDesk and The AM Show partnerships
• NZ Community Boards Conference
• Local Government NZ Conference
Typ e A m ount
Memberships $396,000
Sponsorships / partnerships $478,000
Chorus does not make political donations.
Responsibility for implementation of the sustainability
strategy sits across our Executive with coordination of the
strategy and programmes of work managed by our Head
of Sustainability, reporting to our Chief Corporate Officer
and General Counsel.

10Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Sustainability Governance
Our Chorus strategy
To recognise our commitment to sustainability, the
Executive team has put our three new sustainability
pillars at the core of our corporate strategy;

11Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Sustainability Governance
Our network infrastructure
A 2017 study
1
estimated the wider social benefits from fibre
uptake at about NZ$2 billion annually, in addition to a
$3 billion annual contribution to GDP from business uptake.
We’re a wholesale only, fixed line
telecommunications network operator.
73% of our broadband connections are fibre, enabling rapid
growth in broadband speeds and data demand.
8Gbps Hyperfibre speeds just launched.
We have about 820 permanent and fixed term employees
and 140 independent contractors for our core operations.
Several thousand service company workers and
subcontractors undertake activity on our behalf.
Gigabit broadband and our fibre backhaul is underpinning the
development of sustainable communities through connections
to devices and other network connectivity.
Our network infrastructure enables ~100 retail service
providers to connect homes and businesses nationwide.
~600 exchanges~12,000 cabinets~300,000 poles
~65,000km duct network~57,000km fibre (excluding service leads)

~130,000km of copper
1. Sapere Research Group: Estimating the wider socio-economic impacts of
Ultra Fast Broadband for New Zealand, August 2017.

Make New Zealand Better12Sustainability Governance
Infrastructure is at the heart of the
delivery of economic, environmental and
social sustainability. It’s also at the heart
of what we do.
We’re New Zealand’s largest telecommunications
infrastructure operator. Our operations include
building, maintaining, and operating an open access
telecommunications and internet network predominantly
made up of local telephone exchanges, cabinets, and
copper and fibre cables.
We’ve invested billions of dollars in substantial upgrades
of New Zealand’s communications infrastructure since
we became a standalone company in 2011.
Our rollout of fibre optic cable to homes, businesses,
schools and hospitals began a decade ago as part of a
public-private partnership with government. Fibre will
cover about 1.36 million physical addresses by the end of
2022. The ultra-fast, high capacity and reliable broadband
enabled by fibre means New Zealand is one of just a few
countries already well on the way to becoming a gigabit
society. With the fibre network already covering larger
towns and cities, the last phase of the rollout is extending
fibre to hundreds of smaller communities, some with as
few as 50 premises.
We’re continually upgrading parts of our network as
technology evolves and changes in local demand enable
new investment. We’re awaiting confirmation of the
incentive settings under our new regulatory regime
to determine how we might continue to help bridge
the digital divide for smaller communities yet to be
connected to fibre.
Network investment milestones
2012 Completed ADSL2+ fibre to the cabinet
upgrade, reaching 80% of population
2016 Finished the Rural Broadband Initiative, a
partnership with the Government to connect
fibre to rural schools, hospitals and Vodafone
towers. It also enabled expansion of our fibre
to the cabinet and VDSL footprint.
2018 VDSL vectoring upgrade completed for tens of
thousands of homes across selected rural and
urban areas. Received the Broadband
Delivering Social Impact award at the
Broadband World Forum.
2019 Completed UFB1 rollout underway since 2011
as part of our public-private partnership with
the Government. This made fibre available to
about one million homes and businesses across
28 major towns and cities.
2020 Removed first generation copper broadband
equipment in rural areas with VDSL extended to
160 nodes via 70km of fibre. Fibre extended to
provincial marae as part of the Government's
development project.
2022 UFB2 rollout due to be completed, extending
fibre to 360,000 homes and businesses
in smaller communities.

13Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Sustainability Governance
The Board has a regular programme of
education sessions covering a range of topical
matters, both technical and cultural.
This includes health and safety site visits, as well as
briefings from key management, industry experts and
advisers. Educational and stakeholder visits are also
arranged. Past education session topics have included
technology developments, the future of work and social
license.
Our key corporate governance documents, including our
Managing Risk policy, are available at www.chorus.co.nz/
governance. More information about our approach to
risk is also available in the Governance section of our
Annual Report.
Risk management
Board oversight and monitoring of Chorus
responses to principal risk, involving climate
change is through the Audit and Risk
Management Committee (ARMC).
The ARMC reviews regular reporting from the executive
team on principal risks. Our risk management framework
covers financial and non-financial risks including:
Regulatory risks and broader
societal expectations
Working within the regulatory and legal
environment, and societal expectations.
Capital management
Working within appropriate capital
management settings.
Operational risks
Network and IT quality, availability and resilience;
delivering effective and quality outcomes
(including with service partners); labour market
risks; climate change risks.
Customer/market risks
Customer service and experience;
revenue growth and market changes.
People and culture
Health and safety; engagement; capability;
talent and change management.

14Chorus Sustainability Report 2021Make New Zealand BetterSustainability Governance
Extensive flooding on the Canterbury plains in June 2021 resulted
in damage to a regional fibre optic route after a bridge washout.
A current project to extend the core fibre network along the
West Coast of the South Island, made possible by government funding,
will help establish network route diversity for part of the lower South Island.
Flood protection work has been undertaken at our
South Dunedin exchange.
Network reliability
New Zealanders place great reliance upon the availability
of our network both as a utility service for their daily lives
and businesses, as well as a critical lifeline service in times
of emergency.
A large part of our everyday work is focussed on keeping
communities connected by providing a stable and
reliable network. We’re recognised by the Government
as a lifeline utility provider and our employees and
service company technicians often go the extra mile to
keep communities connected when extreme weather or
natural disasters occur.
The substantial investment we’ve made in deploying fibre
to the premises has increased our network’s reliability
and its resilience to emerging climate-related risks. Fibre
is less susceptible to water and lightning-related faults
than the cables and street-based electronic equipment in
the copper network. This has been demonstrated by low
fibre fault volumes in extreme weather events, including
tornadoes and flooding.
Network interruptions were within our nationwide
targeted service levels in FY21. New quality standards will
be set by the Commerce Commission as part of the new
regulatory framework from 2022.
Our network teams monitor network fault performance
through significant weather events to identify potential
network architecture or route improvements. They also
evaluate climate change data produced by local councils
as part of their ongoing network planning activity.
Average duration of network interruptions FY19 FY20 FY21
Fibre and copper network combined
average time to restore
18 hours 23 hours 23 hours
Layer 1 fibre average downtime per annum
(target of < 120 minutes)
50 minutes 40 minutes 38 minutes
Layer 2 fibre average downtime per annum
(target of < 30 minutes)
1 minute 1 minute 3 minutes
Flooding risk has been evaluated across our critical
exchange sites. In 2019 we commissioned an assessment
of sea-level rise risk across our exchanges and core
fibre routes, which suggests limited potential impacts
on our network assets, from sea-level rise over a long
time frame.
Earthquakes remain a primary focus for our network
resiliency planning. Network damage from past
earthquakes has tended to be limited to localised copper
cables, with minimal damage to exchange buildings.
We have a comprehensive insurance programme typical
of large scale infrastructure utilities, covering all risks of
physical damage and business interruption for above
ground assets. Specific cover is provided for earthquake
damage to underground cables in Auckland, Hamilton,
Wellington and Dunedin. We undertake probability
based loss estimate modelling to ensure that the policy
limit covering material damage and business interruption
is adequate.

15Chorus Sustainability Report 2021Make New Zealand BetterSustainability Governance
Before the start of fibre deployment in communities, residents are
invited to discuss the fibre rollout and the benefits of fibre broadband at
community events. These events help address any community concerns
and promote fibre uptake.
Stakeholder engagement
The rollout of our fibre network has entailed an extensive
programme of stakeholder engagement at all levels of
government for the last decade.
We engage closely with Crown Infrastructure Partners as
the contract manager for our public-private partnership.
Before the start of fibre deployment in communities we
brief and work with local councils on our rollout plans.
In addition to our customer experience surveys, we
monitor public perception of Chorus through broader
national surveys. We also conduct a survey every three
years, of a diverse group of stakeholders to gauge
perceptions of our reputation. The latest survey in June
2021 saw Chorus receive a 7.8 out of 10 for reputation.
Our investor relations programme facilitates two-
way communication with investors and other market
participants about our business, governance and
performance. This is a valuable source of feedback.
Our annual and half year results presentations are
made available to all investors via webcast.

16Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021
Te taiao puāwai
Thriving environment
We're working to reduce emissions
and waste to landfill.
Thriving Environment

17Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving Environment
Our commitmentOur targets
Implement and maintain an emissions data
and reporting system.
1
80% reduction of scope 1 & 2 emissions by 2030.
1
Identify and innovate to create a sustainable value chain;
reduce waste, energy, and emissions.
2
Accelerate our journey to carbon neutral: Over the next year
we're focusing on reviewing our scope 3 emissions to enable
us to put forward a new science-based target.
2
Seek third party verifications on our science-based
emissions reduction target.
3
Engage with iwi, hapū and rūnanga organisations,
particularly where build work is scheduled to take place in
culturally sensitive landscapes to ensure cultural impacts are
appropriately mitigated where possible.
4
Ensure all physical and operational works comply with the
National Environmental Standards for Telecommunications
Facilities, the Health & Safety At Work Act NZ, the Resource
Management Act and other relevant local and central
government legislation.
5
Take practical steps to avoid environmental breaches and
report on any breaches.
6
Identify the risks associated with climate change, evaluate,
and monitor the risks and if necessary, take action to control,
reduce or eliminate them.
7
Impact in the last 12 months
26% decrease
in waste to
landfill across our
corporate sites.
Climate Disclosure
Project (CDP) rating
B achieved (out of
A-E range).
New emission tracking
and reporting system
being implemented

in FY22.
Air travel reduced
80% across last
two years.
296 tonnes of
network equipment
diverted from landfill
- reused or recycled.
Electricity consumption
down 5%, despite data
usage increasing by 23%.

18Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving Environment
Enabling a sustainable
digital future
Low emission technology
Fibre networks are recognised as the most climate-
friendly digital infrastructure because they transmit
data via light over large distances. This means fibre
optical equipment doesn’t require cooling or powered
equipment in suburban streets. We expect to reduce our
electricity consumption by between 30 and 40 percent in
future years as the copper network is gradually shut down
in areas where fibre is available.
Research commissioned by the German Environment
Agency suggests HD video streaming over fibre produces
half of the carbon emitted per hour than VDSL on copper
cable would, while carbon emissions for 5G technology
were even higher than VDSL.
1

1. https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/en/press/pressinformation/video-
streaming-data-transmission-technology
Supporting emission reductions for
New Zealand
Our network also enables New Zealanders to undertake
activity in ways that reduces their own impact on the
environment. COVID-19 has accelerated the widespread
adoption of flexible work options and video conferencing.
The 2021 Lifestyle survey reported that 41% of New
Zealanders are now working from home in some capacity
during the week.
The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority
estimated if one in five New Zealanders opted to work
from home once a week, it would prevent 84 kilotonnes
(the equivalent of taking 35,000 cars off the road) of
carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere annually.
Swapping business flights between Auckland and
Wellington for an online meeting could reduce transport
emissions by another 65 kilotonnes.
The benefits of fibre broadband are already evident
from the reductions we’ve seen in network electricity
usage despite significant growth in data usage across
our network.
Fibre networks are estimated to use 12 times less energy than copper networks.
Figure 1:
Network equipment power usage by network type
0
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
2011
2007
2015
2016
2009
2008
2014
2012
2013
2017
2010
2018
2020
2019
ADSLVDSLGPONSouce: Nokia
Watts per subscriber
70,000
75,000
80,000
85,000
90,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
6,000
FY21
Fibre data usage (PB)Copper data usage (PB)
FY19FY20
FY18
Electricity usage (MWh)
Figure 2:
Data vs Network Electricity Usage FY18 – FY21
MWh
Petabyte

19Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving Environment
Reducing our
emissions
We’ve been reporting our carbon
emissions data to the Climate Disclosure
Project (CDP) since 2012 and achieved a
B rating for 2020 (scores range from A-E)
confirmed in March 2021.
We have a target of reducing our Scope 1 and 2 emissions
80% by 2030, from our FY12 base year. This target reflects
the expected greening of New Zealand’s electricity
network and the benefits of our investment in fibre optic
broadband.
Our footprint: In total, we’ve avoided a net cumulative 84
kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (CO2e)
since FY12, including Scope 3 emissions.
Our FY21 emissions were 23 kilotonnes-CO2e, 33% lower
than in FY12, however an 18% annual increase from FY20.
Scope 1 direct emissions have remained steady for FY21 at
1 kilotonne due to lower generator diesel and
company vehicle fuel consumption, along with fewer
refrigerant losses.
Scope 2 electricity emissions for FY21 were 12 kilotonnes,
a 2.9 kilotonnes increase compared to last year. However
our electricity consumption has reduced by 5% compared
to last year, despite monthly average data usage on the
Chorus network rising by 23% (352GB monthly average in
June 2020 compared to 432GB monthly average in June
2021). This increase in electricity emissions is due to the
carbon intensity of the national grid increasing rapidly
year on year due to a period of low rainfall in hydroelectric
generator catchments.
Reported Scope 3 value chain emissions for FY21 were
10 kilotonnes and have reduced by 38% since FY12.
This has been driven mainly by reductions in our field
service vehicle fleet, excluding subcontractors.
Carbon offsetting and renewable energy
We use solar and wind power on 117 remote network
sites where mains power isn’t available. For network sites
supporting large numbers of customers, we use mains
power to ensure reliability of service and we rely on
standby batteries and diesel generators for backup power.
Chorus has not yet adopted a carbon offsetting
programme. Our focus is on identifying our wider Scope
3 emissions, finding opportunities to reduce all emissions,
and investing in the ongoing rollout of fibre. The migration
of customers to fibre means we’re able to remove less
power efficient equipment from the network, reducing our
overall emissions.
New Zealand has typically met around 80% of its annual
electricity needs from renewable sources, subject to
hydrological conditions. This is expected to increase in
future years with ongoing investment in de carbonisation
of the electricity grid. The Climate Change Commission
has recently recommended a target of 95% to 98%
renewable electricity generation by 2030.
Figure 3:
Scope 1 and 2 Emissions
0
10
5
15
Kilotonnes CO
2
e
Electricity
Diesel generators
Refrigerant
Company vehicles
Natural gas
FY12FY13FY14FY15FY16FY17FY18FY19FY20FY21
With video conferencing and less travel due to COVID-19
we’ve driven our travel emissions down by 76% from
base year levels.
We are expecting that our reported Scope 3 emissions
will increase as a result of our Scope 3 review that is being
undertaken in the coming year.
We continue to invest in ways to make our network more
energy efficient, including updating our equipment in
exchanges. As we migrate more customers from copper to
fibre, we expect our electricity consumption to continue
to reduce. The lower fault rate on the new fibre network
means vehicle related Scope 3 emissions will also continue
to reduce over time.
FY19FY20FY21
Direct emissionsScope 11,1661,035992
Electricity emissionsScope 29,0939,343 12,247
Value chain emissionsScope 3*11,6919,221 9,807
Electrical usage
(total MWh)
83,47481,8777 7, 2 5 0
% renewable**83.20%82.20%79.90%
Figure 4:
Carbon emissions (tonnes CO2e) and electricity usage
* Scope 3 emissions measured are business travel (air, taxi, rental car and fuel
reimbursement); service company fleet (excluding technicians); diesel production;
electricity used by others in co-locations
** based on an average of three quarters where emissions factors have been reported.
We’ve restated emissions for prior years where revised emission factors and activity
levels have been available. Therefore emissions will vary from those previously reported.

20Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving Environment
Respecting our land
Our environmental commitments
For FY22 and beyond we’re implementing a system
for carbon emissions data and reporting. We'll continue
to create a sustainable value chain; reduce waste and
emissions. We will also seek third party verification on
our science-based emissions reduction target.
As the owner of about 600 exchange sites and
an extensive fixed line network throughout urban
and rural New Zealand, we take practical steps to
avoid environmental breaches and report on any
potential breaches.
We recorded an incident where diesel spilled at one
of our exchanges when a tank filling system failed.
We immediately responded to the incident, alerted the
local authority and we've fully remediated the site.
We have about 70 network sites located on Department
of Conservation land. These sites are typically transmitter
links on hilltops or mountains. Some of these remote sites
are being retired as our network needs evolve and will be
removed or passed onto new owners. The scale of the
ultra-fast broadband rollout has entailed working closely
with a multitude of councils throughout New Zealand
to coordinate the deployment of new underground and
aerial network.
We engage with numerous local Māori organisations
and Heritage New Zealand to ensure cultural impacts are
mitigated, particularly where we are building network in
culturally sensitive areas.
Our environmental framework requires that we and
our suppliers ensure our physical and operational work
complies with all relevant local and central government
legislation including:
• the National Environmental Standards for
Telecommunications Facilities
• the Health & Safety at Work Act NZ
• the Resource Management Act
We have controls in place to identify risks associated with
climate change mitigation and adaptation, evaluate, and
monitor the risks and if necessary, take action to reduce
or eliminate them.
WE ENGAGE WITH
LOCAL MĀORI
ORGANISATIONS TO
ENSURE CULTURAL
I M PA C T S A R E
MITIGATED

21Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving Environment
A patu muka (flax pounder) unearthed by our UFB contractors
in Tairua. The patu muka was used to soften flax fibre (muka) in
preparation for weaving.
Archaeologists and local mana whenua representatives meet with our
service partners and contractors to provide archaeological and cultural
inductions. This is in part to make sure we meet our obligations under the
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act.
Throughout the course of our UFB
rollout, we've engaged with iwi, hapū
and rūnanga organisations.
To date we've obtained around 100 authorisations to
work in areas identified as having archaeological features
and sites of significance.
We've also worked with archaeologists and local mana
whenua representatives to record archaeological
features as they are unearthed during excavations to
install our network.
Archaeological features discovered so far have included
the remnants of pre-European Māori settlement, such as
toki (adzes), whao (chisels), hangi stones and moa bones,
as well as the remnants of a whaling station.
A WHAKANŌA
CEREMONY IS OFTEN
CARRIED OUT BEFORE
CHORUS CONTRACTORS
START EARTHWORKS.

22Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving Environment
Reducing our waste
to landfill
We have a strong focus on waste minimisation
and continually explore opportunities to reuse
or recycle waste generated by our network-
related activity, including partnering with
our suppliers to reduce our waste footprint
through innovation.
Since the ultra fast broadband rollout began in 2011, we've
worked with our partners to collect plastic duct offcuts so
they can be recycled, and the plastic granulate can be used
in the production of new ducting. Over the last five years
we've diverted over 800 tonnes of potential waste from
landfill, including 85 tonnes this year.
We’ve worked with our local duct manufacturer on the types
of plastic used in ducting to change from two different types
of plastic to one type of plastic, which will make processing
of the duct offcuts more efficient as it's rolled out across
different duct products.
Leveraging the relationships we have with our material
suppliers, we’ve collaborated on ways to reduce the use
of soft plastics, starting with the removal of five metres of
soft plastic that was being used on microduct drums (see
pictures to the right).
We’ve also worked together to replace polystyrene reels,
used for smaller fibre cables being installed into premises,
with cardboard alternatives. Plastic packaging for customer
premises equipment has also been reduced.
Where possible, we reuse the wooden and metal drums the
fibre optic cable is delivered on and are working
with our supplier to trial reusable plastic drums for
microduct cabling.
Waste type Disposal method*FY21 (Tonnes) FY20 (Tonnes)
Duct (plastic)Recycled85195
Redundant network (metal) Recycled187 37
BatteriesRecycled10 24
E-wasteRecycled144
Fibre cableLandfill8293
Our largest source of waste to landfill is fibre cable, cable
offcuts can’t be reused if they are below a certain length.
The amount of fibre cable waste is reducing significantly
as the UFB rollout comes towards an end. Our fibre cable
supplier is currently researching a technique to recycle
fibre cable.
Our goal is to recycle all redundant electronic equipment
and copper cable where they can be economically
recovered. Network recycling volumes are expected to
increase as we continue to migrate customers to the fibre
network and copper equipment is gradually retired. Over
the last year we have recycled 14 tonnes of e-waste and
10 tonnes of network batteries.
We expect to set ongoing waste targets once the fibre
rollout programme is complete and normal operational
levels are established. General waste disposal by our
service companies and their subcontractors isn’t
currently tracked.
We operate an in-office recycling and organic waste
collection programme across our four corporate office
sites. In FY21 we started recording waste volumes and
reinvigorated our recycling programme which has
seen a 26% decrease in waste to landfill and a 488%
increase in recycling across our four corporate sites.
Water
We have limited data for water usage as water is part of
the fixed body corporate costs that we pay for our office
space and few exchanges that use water for cooling.
* Where we are able to recycle, 100% of waste type is recycled.

23Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Champion Digital Futures
Toa hangarau
Champion Digital Futures
We're committed to working with others
to strengthen the digital capability in
New Zealand and combat digital inequality.

Section Heading24Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Champion Digital Futures
Our commitment
Our targets
Continue to collaborate with others who are
working towards digital equity in New Zealand.
1
50 Shine the Light events to strengthen digital
knowledge for FY22.
1
Help build awareness of digital skills support
available for our local communities.
2
20,000+ students, adults and business owners helped
with digital access skills training, and devices in FY21-FY22.
2
Support organisations who are focussed on digital
inclusion and skills.
3
Continue to connect New Zealand towns and
communities to fibre.
4
Challenge Accepted
series on YouTube to
inspire and motivate
people to have a
digital future.
Part of the Digital
Boost Alliance
and Digital Equity
Coalition Aotearoa.
Collaboration with
Digital Journeys,
SeniorNet and
Broadband
Compare.
100 cabinet art
murals complete,
eight Rainbow
themed.
233 community
volunteer days taken
by employees.
$250,000
to support
organisations
focussed on digital
capability and
inclusion.
12,000 student
homes connected
through retailers
delivering
broadband services,
using free wholesale
connections from
Chorus, other NZ
wholesale providers
and the Ministry of
Education.
47 Shine the
Light community
events nationwide
to educate on
broadband options,
how to connect
to fibre and local
digital skills support
available.
Impact in the last 12 months

25Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Champion Digital Futures
Digital equity
and inclusion
Education
Education and a commitment to digital equity have
always been a major focus of our work. Schools were
priority customers to be connected to fibre in our urban
and rural rollouts. In recent years we’ve worked with
government organisations to explore ways our network
technology could bridge the digital divide between those
students who have broadband at home and those who
don’t. This has included trials using Wi-Fi access points
to enable students without home broadband to log in to
their local school network from home.
Ministry of Education COVID-19 support for students
When COVID-19 forced the shutdown of schools across
New Zealand, our broadband network underpinned a
rapid transformation in education practices, as schooling
shifted online. However, we were concerned about the
effect an extended lockdown could have on the digital
divide within school communities. We offered to switch
our existing intact connections on for homes identified
by the Ministry of Education as requiring broadband for
essential learning. Since April 2020, the initiative has
helped connect over 12,000 student homes through
retailers delivering broadband services, using free
wholesale connections from Chorus, other New Zealand
wholesale providers and the Ministry of Education.
We’ll continue to work together to offer free wholesale
connections for retailers until December 2021. We will
continue to work with the Government and others to
find long-lasting solutions towards digital equity.
Digital skills and inclusion donations
In FY21 we donated $250,000 to charities and
organisations focussed on digital inclusion. Our
donations included Alexa Echo Dot speakers for Blind
Low Vision New Zealand clients and devices to support
Digital Skills courses for seniors and families through
Age Concern NZ and Digital Inclusion Alliance Aotearoa.
We've also supported Kiwrious, who provide science
sensors and an online collaboration platform for low
decile schools to encourage Science, Technology,
Engineering and Maths (STEM) learning and we've
also funded research to look at whether Clearhead,
a mental health app and chatbot, could help within the
Māori community.
In June 2021, along with the Discovery team, we created
an online content series called Challenge Accepted,
to actively demonstrate how anyone can overcome
challenges relating to technology, and do more online.
For small business digital skills support, we partnered
with Digital Journeys, a social enterprise to create free
online resources. These included articles, step-by-step
instructions, tips and videos to help small business
owners understand technology and digital services.
The aim of our Challenge Accepted series
is to tackle broadband and technology fears.

26Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Champion Digital Futures
Community
engagement
Shine the Light events
Running face to face events in our communities has
been an important part of our fibre build plan. These are
important in building relationships with local councils and
business groups, as well as addressing any community
concerns. In 2020 we introduced Shine the Light events,
in communities where we had completed the fibre
build but uptake was slow. These events continue to be
key in building community goodwill, identifying digital
skills needs and understanding the barriers people
have to connecting. For FY21 we’ve run 47 Shine the
Light events nationwide, and in just a few years we've
reached thousands of individuals. For FY22 we’ll focus
on expanding these events to focus on motivation,
connection and strengthening digital skills, partnering
with SeniorNet and Broadband Compare.
Community cabinet art
Our cabinet art programme has been running since
2010, and each year we complete around 100 murals.
Working with local councils, we commission local artists
to illustrate our street cabinets which helps combat
tagging and graffiti vandalism. For the past few years,
we’ve dedicated some of our funding to create rainbow
murals, that celebrate diversity and inclusiveness in
our communities. For FY21 we’ve added eight Rainbow
murals to our collection.
Volunteer days
Employees are given a workday each year to volunteer
and support local community groups. From spending
the day with the Department of Conservation to help
our environment thrive to spending time with charities,
our people are empowered to give their time to causes
that matter to them. About 2,900 volunteer days have
been used since the programme started in FY13 and 233
people used their volunteer day in FY21.
Contribution type Amount
Cash contributions / donations$252,000
Time (employee volunteering) $98,000
Inkind giving$4.55 million
Monetary value of our FY21 community and charitable
contributions to New Zealand
Murals on our cabinets to help combat
graffiti vandalism.

Make New Zealand Better27Chorus Sustainability Report 2021Champion Digital Futures
Cybersecurity
and privacy
For the information we do hold, we adhere
to the requirements of the New Zealand
Privacy Act.
The Telecommunications Information Privacy Code
(2020) also stipulates that we must not collect
telecommunications information except in limited
exceptional circumstances.
We have a robust privacy framework that is managed
within our wider risk management framework.

Our Privacy Officer is responsible for implementing our
privacy framework, promoting awareness of privacy
matters, monitoring matters on a day-to-day basis,

and escalating matters as required to our Executive.
Our systems, processes and training are compliant with
the Privacy Act 2020.
The Audit and Risk Management Committee (ARMC)
receives comprehensive cybersecurity reports every
six months, with interim updates as required, which
are then reported back to the Board. We have detailed
policies, processes, and registers to ensure cybersecurity
is addressed through technology selection, network
delivery practices, and ongoing operations and
protection of our IT systems. We also have insurances for
key cybersecurity risks.
Our practices have continued to evolve with the post-
COVID-19 shift to more flexible working. Our Principal
Security Officer monitors our performance, including
testing our security incident responses and liaising with
New Zealand’s National Cyber Security Centre on

advanced cyber threats.
We undertake regular reviews, including external
audits and ad-hoc reviews, to provide assurance and
feedback on our assessments and controls. Recent
cyber-attacks against New Zealand businesses and
overseas asset owners have informed our approach.
Annual training is provided to anyone accessing our
information systems to raise awareness of information
security issues such as phishing and malware.
We recorded no material cybersecurity incidents or
privacy complaints from regulatory bodies in FY21.
AS A WHOLESALE NETWORK
OPERATOR, RATHER THAN
A RETAILER, WE DON’T BILL
CONSUMERS DIRECTLY
FOR BROADBAND OR
PHONE SERVICES.
THIS MEANS WE HOLD
VERY LIMITED CONSUMER
INFORMATION.

28Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
Nga iwi whai hua
Thriving people
Champions of safe, fair
and inclusive workplaces.

29Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
Our commitment
Our targets
Prioritise the safety, health, and welfare
of people before any business objective.
1
Top 10% for engagement survey: in the technology
benchmark for wellbeing, diversity and inclusion and flexible
working hours.
1
Ensure we have the right channels and processes
in place so all Chorus people know how to get help
and support and feel they can speak up.
2
40:40:20 split of people leaders, relating to gender.
2
Safe Plus certification to leading level by 2023.
3
Achieve 0% gender career level pay gap by 2022.
4
Total employee and people leader population representative of
customer base (NZ working population as measured by Census results).
5
Ensure all people receive at least their legal entitlements
and are treated with dignity and respect.
3
Continue to strive for gender equality, reduce gender pay
gap and champion pay equity reform.
5
Inspire future generations to consider careers in technology.
6
Ensure the ethnicity of our people by role is reflective
of NZ population as per NZ Census.
7
Enable people to take advantage of our flexible working policy,
helping them achieve balance in their work/personal lives.
8
Build on our cultural awareness across our organisation,
with a focus on te ao Māori.
4
Champion diversity, inclusion, and wellbeing for our people.
9

30Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
1 eNPS means Employee Net Promoter Score
* Based on the average of responses to the four engagement questions.
Best Wellness
Programme award
at the 2021 Human
Resources
New Zealand
Awards.
Human Resources
Director
New Zealand’s
Employer of Choice
2021 winners.
Thriving people
New parental leave
policy introduced
- flexible parental
leave totalling
eight weeks.
Rainbow Tick,
Gender Tick
and CQ Cultural
Intelligence Tick
certification
certified.
First modern slavery
statement released.
8.5 out of 10
employee
engagement score,
and eNPS
1
of +62
*
.
Tech Toolbox
sessions held
nationwide to
launch new
Tell Chorus
campaign.
100% target
achieved for
Director Health
& Safety visits,
with Executive walks
225% against target.
Impact in the last 12 months

31Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
Health and Safety
The health, safety and wellbeing of
Chorus people is paramount.
This includes our direct employees and the thousands
of people working on our behalf to build, connect and
maintain our network. Our health and safety focus extends
to anyone who is in, or in the vicinity of, our workplaces.
In FY21 we established a new risk framework focusing
on our critical risks. For example, mental health, working
at height, electricity strikes and vehicle accidents. We
continue to promote a proactive health and safety culture.
We also continue to work with our contractors and
suppliers to ensure their systems and procedures meet our
health and safety expectations.
The volume of work performed, including our service
companies, totalled 7.8 million work hours across the year.
This is a reduction from 10 million hours last year, resulting
from the UFB rollout nearing completion and connection
activity beginning to slow.
The Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR)
decreased to 2.05 in FY21, down from 2.43 last year. The
number of injuries to our people reduced to 16, down
from 25 in FY20. The types of injuries were largely sprains,
strains and hand lacerations caused by manual handling
activity and moving about work sites, the same trends seen
in prior years. There were no fatalities. The Lost Time Injury
Frequency Rate (LTIFR) decreased to 0.77 from 0.78. Our
TRIFR results are about five times lower than other fibre
infrastructure companies.
In the coming year we will focus our efforts on three
key areas: risk management, assurance, and governance
optimisation. This focus will extend across our ecosystem
to ensure all of our people are our key priority. The
continued collaboration with our service company partners
to enhance health and safety practices is a constant
priority. No business objective will be prioritised over the
health or safety of any person.
0
1
2
3
Injury frequency rate
2.05
0.77
2.43
0.78
FY20FY19
TRIFRLTIFR
LTIFR: number of lost time injuries + medical treatment injuries
+ restricted work injuries per million hours worked.
2.67
0.61
FY21
Figure 5:
Injury frequency rates FY19 – FY21

32Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
Our people
Our operating model and
employee engagement
Chorus is going through a period of significant change
as the fibre rollout draws to a close and we transition to
a more operational focus. At the same time, a priority
programme of work is helping implement the change
to a new regulatory model that will shape our future
organisational focus.
These changes in our operating context have seen
a reduction in employees in recent years. Following
targeted operating model changes implemented in
FY21, the total number of permanent and fixed term
employees reduced from 870 to 817, including a
reduction in our executive team from nine to seven
roles. In advance of organisational change, we also put
in place new recruitment controls that see us focussed
on the replacement of critical roles only, this has also
contributed to the reduction in employee numbers.
Organisational change has included some redundancies.
In addition to providing redundancy compensation, we
have an outplacement programme that ensures anyone
impacted by change, who we’re unable to redeploy
internally, receives assistance from an external partner
to prepare for career choices outside of Chorus.
Employee
engagement
FY19 FY20 FY21
Total (out of 10)7.68.58.5
Employee net
promoter score
(eNPS)
+28+67+62
Participation
rate
98%94%86%
Despite the changes in our operating context, employee
engagement remained stable at 8.5 out of 10 (Peakon
methodology) between FY20 and FY21. While we saw
some minor variability in our employee net promoter
score
1
, starting FY21 at +67 and closing out the year at
+62, we’re in the top 10% of our international ‘technology’
company benchmark
2
.
Individual executive areas have specific programmes
that focus on engagement drivers within their teams.
At a company-wide level we adjust our focus each
quarter to meet the needs highlighted through the survey
and consistently look at key areas such as employee
wellbeing and communication of strategies and direction.
These areas are always valued by our people, in particular
through organisational change and the ongoing
uncertainty created by COVID-19.
Employee
turnover rate
FY19 FY20 FY21
Voluntary9.2%7. 5%8.1%
Tot al
turnover rate
12.1%14.1%12.6%
Positions filled
by internal
candidates
62.0%52.6%43.3%
1. eNPS means employee Net Promoter Score. Net promoter scores can range from -100 to +100 and are calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors (0-6 engagement score) from the percentage of promoters
(9-10 engagement score).
2. Chorus engagement survey data is provided by Peakon who provide a technology sector benchmark for comparison. Achieving a score within the top 10% of the benchmark is considered best in class.

33Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
Our operating model
and employee engagement cont.
We have a strong focus on sharing and discussing the
business strategy with our people. We hold twice yearly
senior leader days where the executive team discuss
strategic topics with senior leaders. Each year we bring
together our people leaders for a one-day conference.
We also hold interactive Chorus Conversation sessions
with all employees where our strategic direction
is discussed.
Monthly people leader webcasts share top priorities
and focus areas across the business, with time dedicated
to questions so our people leaders can share key
messages with their teams. Monthly CEO updates are
also broadcast via our intranet and we’ve made Yammer
available across the business so people can share key
business activity and to encourage more employee
engagement and feedback.
Chorus Conversation sessions for FY21 in our Auckland office.
Our monthly ACCColades recognition programme
enables employees to nominate their colleagues for
efforts that support our company values of Authentic,
Collaborative, Courageous and Curious. This has been
a forum for recognising sustainability initiatives such
as employee efforts to reduce unnecessary plastic
packaging from our supply chain. Changes to the
programme have been introduced in FY22 to
ensure we’re identifying achievement across the
business effectively.

34Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
Diversity and Inclusion (Belonging)
Chorus has an established Belonging strategy that guides
the areas we focus on to maintain our inclusive culture.
Our aim is to strengthen our collective capability, identify,
attract, and retain diverse talent, and leverage the diversity
of our people.
The strategy is owned by the Board and Executive team
and there are four parts to the strategy:
Diversity and inclusion is a priority focus for Chorus
management and the Board, with a range of initiatives in place
across the employee lifecycle and within our leadership and
learning plan. However, we’re not where we want to be as
an organisation, in particular concerning diverse leadership.
We’ll be placing additional focus in FY22 to drive meaningful
change, particularly in areas such as recruitment and selection
practices and talent mobility.
1
Flexible and adaptable workforce
2
Diverse leadership
3
Wellbeing
4
Inclusive culture

35Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
Flexible and adaptable workforce
Flex@Chorus, our approach to flexible working,
provides access to multiple flexible working options for
employees. This includes flexibility in work schedule,
flexible locations of work; part-time working hours and
the ability to stagger a return to work after parental leave.
The key requirement for any request to work flexibly is
that it works for the individual, the team, the customer
and Chorus as a whole.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the
experimentation we were doing with working flexibly to
the point most employees are now working from home
at least a couple of days a week.
As flexible working has become our new normal we need
to continue to think about what the next iteration of
Flex@Chorus looks like to continue to meet the needs
of our people and the business. A project team is working
on how Chorus might re-imagine the future of how
we work. This is a collaborative process, seeking
input from our employees and involving them in the
design elements.
My work schedule is flexible enough to
accommodate my family or personal life.
MAY 2020MAY 2020
9.0
+
69
eNPS
OUT OF 10
MAY 2019MAY 2019
8.5
+
50
eNPS
OUT OF 10
MAY 2021MAY 2021
9.2
+
77
eNPS
OUT OF 10
I am satisfied with our
flexible working policy
MAY 2020MAY 2020
9.1
+
73
eNPS
OUT OF 10
MAY 2019MAY 2019
8.3
+
45
eNPS
OUT OF 10
MAY 2021MAY 2021
9.2
+
79
eNPS
OUT OF 10

36Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
Diverse leadership
There are two parts to our focus on diverse leadership
– gender balance and ethnic mix. With regard to gender
balance we have a target of 40:40:20 gender ratio in
our people leader community and progress against that
target has fluctuated during the year. This means our
people leader population isn’t consistently reflective
of our wider employee population when gender is
considered. In February we reviewed our recruitment
process and have made changes to ensure we strive to
recruit by attracting, interviewing, and hiring a diverse set
of people, while still focusing on hiring the best possible
person for the role. We’ll continue to address this in FY22
by driving meaningful change in areas like recruitment,
selection practices and talent mobility.
With regard to gender balance we’re also focussed on
promoting fair pay in our remuneration and pay strategy.
We’re proud to have received three awards in the last
YWCA Equal Pay Awards in 2019 (Leadership, Progressive
and Supreme Awards) and we remain committed to our
objective of achieving a 0% gender career level pay gap
by 2022.
We use a career level remuneration system that has a
total of nine career levels. Across seven of the nine career
levels the average career level gap is 3.1% or less. The two
remaining and highest career levels have an average pay
gap of 9.1%. The population in those two career levels is
small and therefore any shift in gender balance has a big
impact. A comprehensive review of gender pay equity
forms part of our annual remuneration review process at
both a team, function, and all of Chorus level.
This ensures we stay focused on reducing the gender
career level pay gap.
Figure 6:
Gender by role three year review
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
0
EXECUTIVE

2021
86
EXECUTIVE

2020
78
22
14
EXECUTIVE

2019
55
45
DIRECTORS

2021
DIRECTORS
2020
62
38
57
43
DIRECTORS
2019
62
38
PEOPLE

LEADERS

2021
64
36
PEOPLE

LEADERS

2020
60
40
PEOPLE

LEADERS

2019
62
38
ALL

CHORUS

2020
59
41
ALL

CHORUS

2021
59
41
ALL

CHORUS

2019
60
40
Figure 7:
Ethnicity* by role 2021
20%40%60%80%100%
0
NZ EuropeanPacific PeoplesAsianMāoriOtherEuropean
PEOPLE
LEADERS
2021
ALL
CHORUS
2021
*Prime ethnicity people identify as.

37Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
Diverse leadership cont.
With regards to ethnic mix, people identifying themselves
as Maori and Pasifika continue to be under-represented,
both in the people leader and Chorus overall population -
when compared to the NZ population.
Ethnic diversity in our general employee population
remains an ongoing challenge for Chorus to address and
is exacerbated at the leadership level. As a result, Chorus
recently undertook a cultural competence assessment
through the Superdiversity Centre and was awarded their
CQ Tick accreditation. The output of this assessment
has provided direction to support the further development
of cultural competence at Chorus. The initial focus has
begun with workshops to help employees understand
the importance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in Aotearoa
New Zealand today. Chorus has also partnered with
TupuToa, an internship programme aimed at creating
pathways into professional careers for Maori and Pasifika
tertiary students.
We provide targeted development opportunities for
our people leaders to help drive leadership performance
and strategic objectives. This includes a women’s
leadership programme to help us build a more
diverse leadership group and an emerging leaders
programme to complement and enhance talent and
succession planning.
Training and developmentFY19 FY20 FY21
Average hours per FTE7 hours10 hours8 hours
Average spend per FTE$1,023$1,350$1,060
We also have well received programmes in Chorus,
designed to lift personal and leadership capability,
including:
Emerging Leaders
The Emerging Leaders programme was designed with
the support of Chorus employees. It's based on the four
leadership practices at Chorus that provide a framework
of the types of skills and behaviours we expect our
leaders to demonstrate. This is a year-long leadership
programme for those employees who are identified as
emerging leaders within our business, demonstrating our
commitment to talent development.
Mental Health First Aid
The Mental Health First Aid course develops people
leader and employee knowledge in recognising and
understanding signs of mental distress. The course
offers ways in which to provide support options for those
whose mental wellbeing is under stress.
Investment in the learning and development of our
people remains a key focus with consistent budget
allocation over the past three years.
In FY20 we did see an increase in spending due to COVID
as we looked to increase wellbeing related training for
our people and incurred some additional costs of
training delivery as we moved to online options.
UP programme
Our UP programme has been running for the last five
years, and is designed to help empower our women
leaders to be successful in their career ambitions.
Mentoring Circles
We pair employees with leaders in the business
to support personal and career development.

38Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
THE SUCCESS OF OUR HEALTH
& WELLBEING PROGRAMME IS
REFLECTED IN ENGAGEMENT
RESPONSES PLACING
CHORUS IN THE TOP
OF THE GLOBAL
TECHNOLOGY
BENCHMARK
5%
Wellbeing
The wellbeing of Chorus employees remains a priority and FY21
has been particularly focussed on supporting wellbeing, both in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic and with the transition back
to work in a hybrid flexible working model.
The Chorus wellbeing programme has four components –
financial, physical, career and mental wellbeing. Each component
has associated learning, whether it be nutrition seminars, financial
literacy, or ways to combat stress and anxiety. We look to provide a
great mix of information, tools and resources that our people can
access in a way that works best for them.
In FY21 we delivered a range of wellbeing initiatives:
Anxiety in Disguise workshops to educate
employees on the benefits of correct
breathing techniques to manage anxiety.
Health challenges to encourage
movement and improved nutrition.
Promotion of anti-bullying and anti-harassment
through promotion of Pink Shirt Day and our
internal support network.
Financial fitness webinars.
Working here, I feel that I can
live a balanced, healthy lifestyle.
MAY 2020MAY 2020
8.6
+
56
eNPS
OUT OF 10
MAY 2019MAY 2019
8.1
+
32
eNPS
OUT OF 10
MAY 2021MAY 2021
9.1
+
73
eNPS
OUT OF 10
Chorus really cares about
my mental wellbeing
MAY 2020MAY 2020
8.7
+
60
eNPS
OUT OF 10
MAY 2020MAY 2020
8.3
+
39
eNPS
OUT OF 10
MAY 2021MAY 2021
8.9
+
65
eNPS
OUT OF 10
A range of webinars promoting health and
wellbeing and free access to the Mentemia
Wellbeing App.

39Make New Zealand Better
Wellbeing cont.
We continue to evolve our employee benefits programme to
help shape our employees’ wellbeing. We've launched a new
parental leave policy – Families@Chorus – that provides up to
eight weeks paid leave for all new parents, plus company Kiwisaver
contributions for the primary carer on extended leave calculated
and paid on their return to work. This is an addition to government
parental leave entitlements.
Our standard employee benefits for permanent employees
include:
We're really proud to have received the 2021 Human Resources
NZ Best Wellness Programme award in recognition of our work
in the wellbeing space.
2 x company leave days
per annum
2 x wellbeing days per annum
10 sick/domestic leave days
available from employment
commencement
Life, trauma and income
protection insurance
Will It package – an online
Will creation service
8 weeks paid leave for new parents
Subsidised Marram holiday
homes and healthcare
Internet concession
1 x volunteer day per annum
Retail discounts
Chorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People

40Make New Zealand Better
Inclusive culture
We proudly have Rainbow Tick certification and seek
reaccreditation each year. We understand, value and
welcome ethnic, gender and sexual diversity at Chorus.
We have a range of established employee networks and
committees to support an inclusive culture, such as:
The networks meet regularly and hold events, either
for their members or broader groups of employees.
Each of the networks have representation on our
National Belonging Committee, an umbrella group
where all networks are represented alongside employees
passionate to support inclusion at Chorus. The committee
continues to work collaboratively with the People &
Culture team to deliver diversity and inclusion initiatives
based on the pillars of our programme.
Wellbeing committees
Women’s network
Maori & Pasifika network
Mums and Dads network
Mental Fitness network
Rainbow network
The engagement survey measures the success of having
an inclusive culture via the following questions:
Chorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
People from all backgrounds
are treated fairly at Chorus
MAY 2020MAY 2020
8.9
+
66
eNPS
OUT OF 10
MAY 2019MAY 2019
8.5
+
52
eNPS
OUT OF 10
MAY 2021MAY 2021
9.0
+
70
eNPS
OUT OF 10
I am treated like a valued
member of Chorus.
MAY 2020MAY 2020
8.4
+
46
eNPS
OUT OF 10
MAY 2019MAY 2019
8.0
+
28
eNPS
OUT OF 10
MAY 2021MAY 2021
8.6
+
51
eNPS
OUT OF 10

41Make New Zealand BetterThriving PeopleChorus Sustainability Report 2021
Collaborating to end
modern day slavery
and exploitation
We’re committed to doing the right thing
by the people working on our behalf.
In FY19 we commissioned an independent review into our
subcontractor workforce, after the Labour Inspectorate
identified allegations ranging from poor labour standard
practice (e.g. poor record keeping, non-payment of holiday
pay) through to a small number of more serious allegations
of exploitation.
The review led to the implementation of a range of
initiatives, with all recommendations acted on;
We expect our suppliers to share our commitment that all
people are treated fairly. We encourage our suppliers to
go beyond legal compliance, drawing on internationally
recognised standards, in order to advance social, labour
and business ethics. Our commercial team is responsible
for administering the Supplier Code of Practice and
interacts closely with our suppliers.
See www.chorus.co.nz/chorus-suppliers
We banned 31 companies from working on our
network, out of approximately 800 contractors.
1
A mandatory Supplier Code of Practice was
put in place, with governance oversight from
the Chorus Board and regular audits completed.
2
Our network subcontractors must complete
employment standards training, and
technicians receive training on their rights.
We encourage continuous learning, so
everyone understands their responsibilities.
3
All contractors must meet minimum onboarding
standards before subcontracting work.
Sub-contractors are regularly audited for
compliance with employment obligations.
4
We receive monthly reports from our service companies of
all sub-contractors and their people working on our behalf.
5
We continue to collaborate with our service companies and
the Government to share learnings and to stop exploitation.
We also engage with Immigration New Zealand on potential
future migrant workforce requirements.
6
We continue to collaborate with our service companies
and a worker welfare programme is in place to help protect
and support people working on our behalf (see more on
page 42).
7

42Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
Worker welfare
At a practical level, we have a dedicated worker welfare
team that monitors our contractor and subcontractor
field workforce within New Zealand. Inspections or audits
are performed by both independent third parties and
Chorus employees. Our cross-business governance team
oversees any investigation of actual or potential work
mistreatment and meets with our service companies
regularly to maintain governance oversight of the
implementation and ongoing operation of their worker
welfare programmes.
Consequences could extend to terminating supply
contracts and, where necessary, passing concerns to
relevant regulatory authorities.
Our Board receive regular reporting on our contractor
workforce and monitor our introduction of modern
slavery reporting requirements.
We run training for relevant people to help identify
any form of mistreatment to workers, from signs of
bullying and harassment to instances where workers
are not provided with their full legal entitlements under
employment and health and safety laws. We take a risk-
based approach to evaluating our supply partners and
contractors and schedule inspections/audits according
to identified risk.
We have information and guidance, including a complaint
reporting process, available to workers in our supply
chain. See https://worker-welfare.chorus.co.nz
In FY21 we continued to make worker welfare an everyday
part of our business, like health and safety, with initiatives
including:
• a Tell Chorus campaign where we talked directly to
technicians about our commitment and support,
including our worker welfare portal and independent
whistleblower process
• an online portal for Chorus employees to log
confidential reports of potential worker welfare
incidents or complaints
• worker welfare training for our employees with
technician facing roles to help them identify and
respond to potential issues.

Contract
scope
Maintenance of
copper and fibre;
fibre build outside
UFB areas
Connecting
premises
to fibre
UFB2 network
build
ContractorDowner
Ventia
UCG
Ventia
Electronet
Ventia
Contract
period
Until
March 2022
Until
March 2022
Until
December 2022
Figure 8:
Service company contracts
43Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
Supply chain strategy
Our objective is to have sustainable and valuable
supplier relationships. We’re focussed not just on cost,
but also on an enduring relationship that delivers value
to both parties and encourages innovation given the
rapid change within our industry. We consider a range
of criteria in evaluating potential suppliers including
environment, health and safety, worker welfare and
corporate reputation.
We work closely with our service company partners to
maintain our workforce at sustainable levels so we can
meet customer demand for fibre connections and deliver
a good customer experience. They have completed
strategic workforce plans for the expected decline in
workforce numbers as the UFB rollout winds down and
network fault volumes reduce as a result of decreasing
copper network connections.
Fixed price contracts are in place for the remaining UFB2
network deployment through to December 2022 and
for subsequent fibre connections to customers. From
March 2022 we expect to have new contracts in place for
maintenance of our copper and fibre networks, as well as
new fibre build outside our planned UFB areas.

44Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Thriving People
Modern Slavery Statement
We’re committed to conducting our business in
accordance with high standards of social, labour and
ethical conduct.
In 2021 we published our first Modern Slavery Statement
(see www.chorus.co.nz/governance)
Chorus’ supply chains span around 1100 direct suppliers
with approximately $950m procurement spend in FY20.
Most of our direct supplier spend is in New Zealand.
We source a range of goods and services internationally,
mostly from countries in Europe, North America and Asia.
Beyond our service company partners, we have surveyed
targeted key suppliers to better understand their risks
and responses to modern slavery. For FY21 we focussed
on imported manufactured goods, especially in the
electronics and telecommunications network equipment
sectors.
The responses from our suppliers indicate that they share
our commitment to the proper treatment of all workers
and that they are taking steps to address the risk. Many of
our suppliers report under the UK reporting regime and
several are submitting statements under the Australian
legislation.
We also manage modern slavery risks during the
procurement lifecycle: including prequalification;
robust procurement practices; strong standard terms
and conditions; and an ongoing audit regime focussed
on our field workforce to assess supplier performance.
Codes of ethics
Our directors and employees are expected to act
honestly and with high standards of personal integrity.
Our codes of ethics set the expected minimum standards
for professional conduct. They also facilitate behaviours
and decisions that are consistent with our values,
business goals and legal and policy obligations.
Annual training is provided to our directors and
employees, including part-time workers and contractors.
Our people are encouraged to report any unethical
behaviour and are asked quarterly to register any
potential conflicts of interest. This process is subject to
internal audit and all reported breaches are investigated. A
third-party review in 2019 benchmarked our compliance
function against industry best practice.
Policies that reinforce the behaviours we expect at
Chorus, include:
Bribery and gifts
Acceptance of bribes, or gifts and other benefits
which could be perceived as influencing decisions, are
prohibited under our codes of ethics. Our Gifts and
Entertainment Policy applies to all directors, employees
and contractors. Gifts and entertainment over $150
require approval.
Chorus is not involved in any ongoing bribery and
corruption cases and no fines or settlements were
incurred for anti-competitive business practices in FY21.
Our Supplier Code of Conduct requires our suppliers to
comply with laws relating to anti-bribery and corruption.
This includes bribery, abuse of power, extortion, fraud,
deception, collusion, cartels and embezzlement.
Anti-bullying, harassment and discrimination
We’re committed to a psychologically and physically
safe working environment and we take a zero tolerance
approach to bullying, harassment and discrimination.
Anti-bullying training is provided each year. Our policy
reflects New Zealand legislation, such as the New Zealand
Bill of Rights Act 1990 and Human Rights Act 1993,
prohibiting discrimination and protecting the right to
freedom of expression.
Whistle blowing and fraud
We encourage confidential reporting of serious
misconduct or wrongdoing and suspected fraud or
corruption. A dedicated whistleblower email address and
phone number is provided. These are monitored by PWC
and are available to all employees and subcontractors.
A dedicated email address is also available for reporting
suspected fraud.
New Zealand law also provides protection to employees
who disclose information about serious wrongdoing in,
or by, an organisation. These protections are expected
to be enhanced by new legislation later in 2021. We did
not receive any reports of serious instances of unethical
behaviour by our employees in the year to 30 June 2021.

45Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021
Disclose the organisation’s governance around climate-related risks and opportunities.
Describe the Board’s oversight
of climate-related risks
and opportunities.
Our Board is responsible for Chorus’ risk management framework and governance. The Board expects Chorus to understand the
risks, opportunities and threats to its current and future business environment and respond to these tactically and strategically.
This includes:
• annually setting risk appetite and tolerances and determining principal risks;
• approving and regularly reviewing our Managing Risk Policy and supporting framework;
• promoting a culture of proactively managing risk; and
• through our Audit Risk Management Committee (ARMC), providing risk oversight and monitoring.
Principal risks are our key risks to the achievement of our strategy. These are assessed on a risk profile identifying likelihood of
occurrence and potential severity of impact. Current principal risk categories are identified via a comprehensive enterprise risk
management framework encompassing financial and non-financial risks. They include anticipating and responding to:
• customer/market risks: customer service and experience; revenue growth and market changes;
• operational risks: e.g. network and IT quality, availability and resilience; delivering effective and quality outcomes (including with
service partners); labour market risks;
• people & culture: e.g. health & safety; engagement; capability; talent and change management;
• regulatory risks and broader societal expectations: e.g. working within the regulatory and legal environment, and broader societal
expectations;
• capital management: e.g. working within appropriate capital management settings.
In addition to Principal Risks the Chorus Board or ARMC regularly receive updates on, and discuss with the Executive;
• unforeseen risks which are events that may disrupt Chorus’ Operating Model but is unknown if it would occur;
• emerging risks which are risks that are known to some degree but is not likely to materialize or have an impact in
the near term;
• business unit risks which are risks to the achievement of functional area strategies.
Our climate change risks and opportunities are reviewed within this framework.
See Sustainability Governance
and Stakeholder Engagement,
starting on page 9, and
Network Reliability, starting on
page 14.
Describe management’s role in
assessing and managing climate-
related risks and opportunities.

Principal risks are owned by relevant executives. This promotes integration into operations and planning and a culture of proactive risk
management. Notwithstanding individual ownership, our CEO and executive hold collective responsibility for considering how risk and
events interrelate and for managing our overall risk profile.
As mentioned above, Executive Management also considers unforeseen and emerging risks on a six-monthly basis and considers
Business Unit risks quarterly. Climate change risks may be reflected as a Principal, Emerging or Business Unit risk dependent on the
potential impact and likelihood of the risk to Chorus’ strategy.
Aspects of operational risks are identified under our risk management framework as climate-related risks. The GM Customer & Network
Operations is responsible for operational risks relating to our nationwide physical network. Mitigation includes planning for network
deployment and protection, as well as ongoing maintenance and fault management.
See Sustainability Governance
and Stakeholder Engagement,
starting on page 9.
Governance
Compliance with Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)
TCFD Appendix
New Zealand is in the process of making climate-related disclosures mandatory for a number of entities, including listed issuers. The Ministry for the Environment has indicated that reporting
would be against a standard in line with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). While the details of the mandatory disclosures in New
Zealand have not been developed yet, the following is our current assessment on Chorus’ progress against those TCFD recommendations.

46Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021TCFD Appendix
Disclose the actual and potential impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities on the organisation’s businesses, strategy and financial planning where such information is material.
Describe the climate-related
risks and opportunities the
organisation has identified
over the short, medium,
and long term.
As discussed in the Network Reliability section of our Sustainability Report, damage or disruption to our network assets can
affect the delivery of telecommunications services to our customers (retail service providers) and their end users. Prolonged
service disruption may have a detrimental financial and/or reputational impact, particularly where it impacts a large area or
number of consumers. Operational risk created by extreme weather has therefore been identified as our main climate-related
risk over the short to medium term, as assessed against a risk profile identifying likelihood of occurrence and potential severity
of impact. Weather-related impacts are not considered material in this timeframe.
At the same time, our largest climate-related opportunity is the rollout of our fibre optic network. This is a significant investment
programme that has been underway since 2011 and it will have brought fibre within reach of approximately 1.36m homes and
businesses in New Zealand by the end of 2022. The fibre rollout is enhancing the resilience of our network to climate change
by enabling the replacement of our existing copper-based network. The copper network is more susceptible to weather-related
faults and consumes more electricity than fibre. The transition to fibre is expected to help reduce our electricity consumption
by 30 to 40%, thereby contributing to our objective of lowering our carbon emissions.
Growing consumer awareness of carbon emissions and the emerging recognition of fibre as the greenest broadband network
alternative, based on electricity usage and data/speed capability, may also benefit Chorus by encouraging increased fibre uptake
over alternative technologies.
Climate change may also directly or indirectly affect our business through changes in regulatory requirements (e.g. mandatory
TCFD reporting) or increased pricing for non-renewable energy sources (e.g. diesel required for back-up power generators and
carbon offsets). These effects are not considered material.
See Thriving Environment,
starting on page 16
and
Network Reliability, starting on
page 14.
Describe the impact of climate-
related risks and opportunities
on the organisation’s business,
strategy and financial planning.
The impact of climate-related risks and opportunities on our business, strategy and financial planning has been limited to date.
Our ongoing investment in a fibre to the premises network is helping mitigate the most significant potential transition and
physical risks related to climate change.
In FY19 Chorus commissioned an external climate change impact assessment to conduct high-level desktop risk screening
of our key network assets. This report identified that exposure of existing assets is most likely to occur along the New Zealand
coastline due to projected sea level rise. An 0.5 metre sea level rise, corresponding to projections to 2060 under representative
concentration pathway 8.5H+, identified that in the medium term;
—five exchanges of varying size may be at potential risk from coastal inundation
—0.3% or ~260 kilometres of core fibre routes are potentially at risk
—less than 0.5% of all point assets (exchanges, sites, terminal enclosures, underground utility boxes, and poles) are potentially
at risk.
See Thriving Environment,
starting on page 16
and
Network Reliability, starting on
page 14.
Describe the resilience of
the organisation’s strategy,
taking into consideration
different climate-related
scenarios, including a 2°C
or lower scenario.
Our current and long-term strategies are considered to be largely resilient to climate-related risks, including 2°C or lower
scenarios, because of the expected continuation of demand for the high-speed broadband capability delivered by our network.
As noted above, our investmentment in a fibre optic network is enhancing the resilience of our services and current modelling
suggests limited potential impact on our network assets from sea level rise over a long timeframe.
See Thriving Environment,
starting on page 16
and
Network Reliability, starting on
page 14.
Strategy

47Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021Section Heading
Disclose how the organisation identifies, assesses, and manages climate-related risks.
Describe the organisation’s
processes for identifying and
assessing climate-related risks
As noted above in the Governance and Strategy sections above, climate-related risks are identified within our risk
management framework.
Further detailed assessment has then been undertaken on aspects of the identified risks to inform our risk management
strategies. The assessment of climate-related risk to our network assets entailed the use of specialist external consultants
working with input from a cross-functional Chorus team.
This impact assessment has been used along with other network information, including experience from past extreme
weather events, to inform our ongoing network planning and management practices. Our network teams are continuing
to develop their awareness of potential climate change risk as local councils undertake and produce further data analysis.
Chorus has regular processes in place at Board and executive level to identify new or emerging risks. In addition, we have
management level programmes focussed on initiatives such as network protection and we undertake insurance-related risk
mitigation assessments on an annual basis.
See Sustainability Governance
and Stakeholder Engagement,
starting on page 9, and
Thriving Environment,
starting on page 16.
Describe the organisation’s
processes for managing
climate-related risks.
As detailed above, our management of climate-related risks is consistent with the process used for other risks. Principal
risks are allocated to individual executives to manage and risk mitigation initiatives are identified as part of this process.
Using the example of network risks from flooding or sea-level rise, as referred to above, we use external data and our
experience from past extreme weather events, to inform our ongoing network planning and management practices.
For example:
• we have a regular programme of building maintenance (e.g. flood protection work has been undertaken on the
South Dunedin exchange.)
• we use geotechnical surveys to identify potential landslip and other topographic risks when selecting fibre routes
in rural areas.
• we place our cables on the downstream side of bridges, as protection against flood damage.
• we use network expansion projects as opportunities to enhance network route diversity, thereby increasing the
robustness of our network (e.g. West Coast rollout to establish network route diversity for lower South Island).
• we’ll exit some ‘at risk’ network assets over time as we migrate customers from our copper network.
See Sustainability Governance
and Stakeholder Engagement,
starting on page 9, and
Thriving Environment,
starting on page 16.
Describe how processes
for identifying, assessing,
and managing climate-related
risks are integrated into
the organisation’s overall
risk management.
As noted above, the identification, assessment and management of climate-related risks is undertaken within our existing
risk management practices and framework.
See Sustainability Governance
and Stakeholder Engagement,
starting on page 9, and
Thriving Environment,
starting on page 16.
Risk Management

48Make New Zealand BetterChorus Sustainability Report 2021TCFD Appendix
Disclose the metrics and targets used to assess and manage relevant climate-related risks and opportunities where such information is material.
Disclose the metrics used
by the organisation to assess
climate-related risks and
opportunities in line with
its strategy and risk
management process.
We measure our electricity usage across our network and and monitor our greenhouse gas emissions.
The number of homes and businesses connected to our network and the performance of our network (speed, data usage
and service impacts) are other metrics we report that may have relevance to climate-related risks or opportunities.
See Thriving Environment,
starting on page 16.
Disclose Scope 1, Scope 2,
and if appropriate, Scope
3 Greenhouse Gas (GHG)
emissions, and the
related risks.
We have reported our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions (limited) since we were established as a listed company in 2011. In that time
we’ve avoided a net cumulative 84 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (CO2e), including Scope 3 emissions.
Network electricity consumption accounts for the majority of our combined Scope 1 and 2 emissions. The national grid has
been mostly over 80% renewable since 2015, although carbon intensity has increased over the past few years. The migration
of end users from our copper network to the newer fibre network is expected to reduce our future emissions by reducing our
electricity needs. Current Scope 3 emissions reported are expected to reduce as fibre uptake grows because less technician
visits will be required for network faults, relative to the copper network.
High-speed broadband networks are also recognised as enabling carbon savings by end users through increased teleworking
and reduced reliance on travel that produces carbon.
See Sustainability Governance
and Stakeholder Engagement,
starting on page 9, and
Thriving Environment,
starting on page 16.
Describe the targets used by
the organisation to manage
climate-related risks and
opportunities, and
performance against targets.
Chorus reports its carbon emissions annually to CDP. We have a science-based target (not yet verified) of achieving an 80%
reduction in our scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions, from our FY12 base year, by 2030. In FY21 we achieved a 33%
reduction against this target.
The rollout of our fibre to the premises network since 2011 is enabling the transition of end users to a more energy efficient
and resilient network. We are on track to complete this network rollout by December 2022 and have achieved 65% uptake of
the fibre network to date. By continuing to drive fibre uptake higher we can begin to shut down our copper network, thereby
contributing to our carbon reduction target.
See Thriving Environment,
starting on page 16.
Metrics and Targets

Directory
Registered Offices
NEW ZEALAND
Level 10, 1 Willis Street
Wellington, New Zealand
P: +64 800 600 100
AUSTRALIA
C/– Allens Corporate Services Pty Limited
Level 28, Deutsche Bank Place, 126 Phillip Street,
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
P: +61 2 9230 4000
www.chorus.company.co.nz/sustainability
ARBN 152 485 848

---

Our focus in FY21 was to help consumers capitalise
on the gigabit head start our fibre network has
given New Zealand. We knocked on about a quarter
of a million doors and supported our 100 or so
retailers to connect another 120,000 consumers to
fibre. This saw fibre uptake grow from 60% to 65%
across the year and represents strong momentum
towards our target of 1 million connections in
2022. Pleasingly, we lifted customer satisfaction
again, up from 8.1 out of ten to 8.2 for installations
and up from 7.3 to 7.5 for service to homes with an
existing or ‘intact’ fibre socket.
Softer market conditions due to the ongoing effects of
COVID-19 on demand, together with competition from other
fibre and wireless networks, resulted in a $12 million drop in
revenue compared to FY20. Operating expenses reduced by
$13 million, reflecting our continued tight management of costs
and the absence of the significant one-off COVID-19 costs
experienced in FY20.  This helped us just achieve our goal of a
modest increase in EBITDA, with FY21 EBITDA of $649 million
up $1 million from FY20. Net profit after tax was $47 million
compared to $52 million in FY20.
A fully imputed final dividend of 14.5 cents per share will be paid
on 12 October 2021, bringing total dividends for FY21 to 25 cents
per share.
dear investors
Dividend reinvestment plan
for shareholders
A dividend reinvestment plan is available to our Australian
and New Zealand resident shareholders. There will be a
2% discount rate applied for the 12 October 2021
dividend payment.
If you haven’t previously registered to participate and wish
to do so, you’ll need to have registered your participation
by 5:00pm (NZ time) on 15 September 2021.
You can register, or deregister, by logging into your
Computershare profile at www.investorcentre.com/nz
or downloading the Participation Notice at
www.chorus.co.nz/dividends and returning it to
Computershare.
The full terms of the reinvestment plan can be read
in our Offer Document dated February 2016 at
www.chorus.co.nz/dividends, or you can request a
copy free of charge. Our most recent audited financial
statements, and auditor’s report, are included in our 2021
annual report, which is available free of charge on request
and at www.chorus.co.nz/financial-results.
1 Excludes partly subsidised education connections provided as part of Chorus’ COVID-19 response.
2 Earnings before interest, income tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) is a non-GAAP profit measure. We monitor this as a key performance
indicator and we believe it assists investors in assessing the performance of the core operations of our business.
3 Based on the average response to four key engagement questions.
FY21 result overview
Fibre connections
1
Net profit after tax
FY21
871,000
FY20
751,000
FY21
$47m
FY20
$52m
Fixed line connections
1
Broadband connections
1
FY21
1,180,000
FY20
1,206,000
FY21
1,340,000
FY20
1,415,000
EBITDA
2
Customer satisfaction
FY21
Installation
FY21
Intact
FY21
$649m
FY20
$648m
Dividend
Employee engagement score
3
FY21
8.5 out of 10
3
FY21
25cps
FY20FY20
24cps8.5
8.2 out of 10
(target 8.0)
7.5 out of 10
(target 7.5)
Making
New Zealand
Better

Figure 2 :
Average monthly usage per connection on our fibre network
We continued to expand our fibre footprint under our public-
private partnership with the Government. There are just
53,000 or so homes and businesses remaining to pass by
the end of 2022. Hundreds of small provincial communities
can already enjoy the socio-economic benefits of fibre
connectivity. As New Zealand turns its focus to the challenges
of climate change, there is a growing appreciation too of the
environmental benefits of fibre broadband. As the greenest
broadband technology, using materially less electricity than
copper or mobile technology, fibre is reducing Chorus’
network energy needs. It is also enabling New Zealanders
to work more flexibly, lowering commuting-driven carbon
emissions.
Broadband’s role as an essential utility is reflected in the
ongoing surge in data demand. Monthly average household
data usage, including both downloads and uploads, grew
from 350 gigabytes (GB) to 432GB across the year. Fibre
customers averaged 500GB in June, up from 436GB the year
before. At the same time, demand for reliable high capacity
broadband was evident in 1 gigabit per second (Gbps)
connections growing to 19% of our fibre connections, up
from 16% last year. This growth is being increasingly driven by
new entrant retailers from the electricity and pay TV sectors.
We enhanced our product portfolio during the year with
new services to support greater industry peering and data
centre connectivity. An 8Gbps Hyperfibre plan was launched
and our in-home Wi-Fi service is being used by some
smaller retailers. These are not yet large revenue earners,
but they underpin our role as a neutral host helping improve
New Zealand’s connectivity.
We did face some headwinds. COVID-19 continued to make
its presence felt with several short lockdowns in Auckland
affecting our fibre marketing activity. The historic levels of
growth in the broadband market have also been constrained
significantly by restrictions on migration into New Zealand.
These pressures, together with the loss of international
roaming revenue, have seen the traditional vertically
integrated mobile network providers increase their focus on
switching their customers from our network to their fixed
wireless solutions.
At times, these campaigns have led to customer confusion,
especially about the status of the copper network, and
we continue to advocate for clearer product disclosure
requirements to help ensure a level playing field. This is
especially important because fixed wireless services don’t
provide the same level of service as fibre - or even VDSL in
most cases – and these service limitations often aren’t made
clear to the customer.
As expected, other fibre companies continued to win copper
customers in those areas where they have overbuilt our
network with fibre. Together, these factors meant we ended
FY21 with 1,340,000 fixed line connections, down 75,000
lines from the year before. Within this total, broadband
connections were down 26,000 to 1,180,000. Most of this
reduction was in other fibre company areas. Our broadband
connections grew by 5,000 in our UFB areas, helped by
strong premises growth. These totals exclude the 10,000
student households we’ve continued to keep connected
to broadband as part of our COVID-19 response, partly
subsidised for the last quarter by the Ministry of Education.
FY21 overview
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Jun-21Dec-20Jun-20Dec-19Jun-19Dec-18Jun-18Dec-17Jun-17Dec-16Jun-16Dec-15
DownstreamUpstream (shown from June 2020 onwards)
Average monthly usage (gigabytes)
COVID-19 lockdowns


Average monthly data usage grew by almost a quarter through FY21 from 350GB to 432GB, with fibre consumers averaging 500GB
a month by the end of the year. Average throughput on our network at these times is close to consistently touching the 3 terabit
per second record that was set during the nationwide lockdown in March 2020. Peak time traffic around 9pm grew by 28%.

FY22 is a crossroads year for Chorus and
the ongoing development of New Zealand’s
broadband landscape. We’ve invested billions of
dollars since 2011 to help create a fibre network
that other countries are now racing to replicate.
The challenges of COVID-19 have accelerated
the digitalisation of socio-economic activity
and demand for bandwidth that’s always on has
made fibre networks a must have. In Australia
the government-owned National Broadband
Network has said it will upgrade up to 2 million
more premises to full fibre. In the United
Kingdom, BT has committed to take fibre to
25 million homes after regulatory commitments
to a fair return on fibre investment.
With our fibre network now 95% complete, our strategy for
FY22 remains largely unchanged. At its core, we’re more
focussed than ever on making New Zealand better. We want
to keep unlocking the potential of fibre by continuing to
connect people and technology, while developing services
that underpin even better applications and use of the cloud.
We’ve put our new sustainability policy at the heart of our
strategy with an emphasis on helping more Kiwis participate
in a positive digital life. Our first Sustainability Report has
been published alongside our Annual Report. Greater
adoption of digital tools and solutions, backed by the low
emission advantages of fibre broadband, has an important
part to play in accelerating New Zealand’s journey to carbon
neutrality. We’ll be working with groups like Senior Net
and Digital Journeys to help close the digital divide and
strengthen digital skills of people and businesses.
We’ve got plenty of work to do to get to our goal of 1 million
fibre connections by the end of 2022. Fixed wireless
services can deliver a broadband service that may provide
a credible alternative for some customers, depending on
things like coverage and data needs. We’re comfortable
with competition, but we believe consumers should be fully
informed about their options and the characteristics of the
product they are paying for. Too often we’re being contacted
by consumers who haven’t realised that they’ve been
switched from a fixed line, or where their wireless service is of
a lower quality.
This is why we’ve been investing in strong public information
campaigns and advertising activity. We want consumers
to be able to make an informed choice. We’ve also been
providing retailers with marketing incentives to promote
fibre uptake. These are a critical tool for us when mobile
network operators have substantial retail market power, large
incumbent customer bases, and prefer that consumers use
their wireless networks. The playing field is further tilted
in their favour because, unlike fibre, fixed wireless services
aren’t subject to price or quality regulation.
We’re encouraged by recent Commerce Commission
proposals to require retailers to provide clearer product
disclosure for consumers. However, we’re concerned by the
suggestion in the Commission’s draft price-quality decision
that our retailer incentives require a drawn-out approval
process. This would tilt the retail broadband market in the
favour of large incumbents that do not have the willingness
to promote fibre like the smaller retailers do.
We wrote to the Commission to express our concern that this
approach and their draft cuts to our expenditure proposals
do not adequately reflect our market context. Taken together
with the low WACC settings and our proposed initial asset
valuation of $5.5 billion, there is a genuine risk that the
new regulatory framework could discourage anything but
essential investment for the next three years.
Chorus’ share price has dropped substantially over the last
six months, reflecting initial asset valuations below market
expectations and the potential for the cap on our regulated
fibre revenues to be set below our business plan forecasts.
Investors are concerned that the regulatory process has
retrospectively written down the value of the investment
we’ve made in the fibre network over the last decade. This is
an extremely poor advertisement for investment in future
New Zealand infrastructure public-private partnerships.
Market analysis suggests that a fairer approach to our
investment risks, the cost of equity and the treatment of
Crown funding should value the fibre network at more than
$7 billion. Our initial $5.5 billion valuation, based on measures
that don’t reflect our commercial reality, means we’ve had to
propose acceleration of depreciation as a way to bridge the
potential gap between our business plan revenue forecasts
and the revenue cap for 2022 to 2024.
Please visit www.chorus.company.co.nz/sustainability to read our
Sustainability Report 2021.
Outlook
With fibre uptake at 65%, a revenue cap that doesn’t allow
for growth at the rate we’ve forecast means we would be
discouraged from making ongoing discretionary investment
in fibre. We’ve already responded to investor feedback by
ruling out expansion of the fibre footprint into more rural
areas under current settings. Our investment appetite for
things like the expansion of our Hyperfibre footprint and
projects to enhance network resilience will also be shaped
by regulatory outcomes.
Sustainability
Report 2021
This is Chorus’ first sustainability report,
reflecting our ambition and commitment to
support New Zealand in its transition to be
more sustainable.
Make
New Zealand
Better

If you’d like more detail on our financial results, the annual
report and a recorded webcast of our results briefing will be
available on our website at www.chorus.co.nz/reports
In the meantime, we’re proceeding with our current business
plan. We’ll continue to promote the migration of copper
customers to fibre and there will be a growing, but still very
modest, number of copper broadband cabinets that we can
retire. And just so there’s no confusion, our copper network
is not being shut down on a widespread basis. It’s still very
much a street by street proposition. As the Commerce
Commission’s broadband monitoring shows, our copper
network continues to provide a high quality of service.
We’ll keep making our organisation more adaptive and even
easier for customers to deal with. In FY22 we’re lifting our
focus on customer experience measures from installations
and intact connections to include a new service assurance
measure. Customer experience will also be an important
element of our new service company contracts from
March 2022.
The unrelenting growth in demand for data, the increasing
reliance on both high-speed download and upload
performance, as well as the emerging awareness of fibre
broadband’s contribution to sustainability, are all underlying
trends that support our business. Our Hyperfibre services
are already making 8Gbps symmetrical speeds available
and 25Gbps capability is on the horizon. This is why fibre
remains the world’s fastest growing and most future proof
access technology.
The rapid evolution of cloud computing and Wi-Fi capability
is exciting and points to future revenue opportunities for us
to explore. We’ve made a promising start with EdgeCentre
facilities and services that leverage our role as a neutral host.
Wi-Fi applications and technologies are where significant
innovation is occurring and governments around the world
have begun to acknowledge this with increased Wi-Fi
spectrum allocations.
Decisions on policy matters like this and within our
broader regulatory context have the potential to amplify
the consumer benefits from fibre in the next few years.
New Zealand has a gigabit head start over the rest of the
world. Let’s make the most of that advantage.
Thank you for your support of Chorus.
Kind regards,
Figure 3:
Our network infrastructure
~600
exchanges
~12,000

cabinets
~300,000

poles
~65,000km duct network~57,000km fibre (excluding service leads)

~130,000km of copper
We have about 820 permanent and fixed term
employees and 140 independent contractors for
our core operations. Several thousand service
company workers and subcontractors undertake
activity on our behalf.
Our network infrastructure enables ~100
retail service providers to connect homes
and businesses nationwide.
We’re a wholesale only, fixed line
telecommunications network operator.
A 2017 study
1
estimated the wider social benefits
from fibre uptake at about NZ$2 billion annually,
in addition to a $3 billion annual contribution to
GDP from business uptake.
73% of our broadband connections are fibre,
enabling rapid growth in broadband speeds
and data demand. 8Gbps Hyperfibre speeds
just launched.
Gigabit broadband and our fibre backhaul is
underpinning the development of sustainable
communities through connections to devices and
other network connectivity.
1. Sapere Research Group: Estimating the wider socio-economic
impacts of Ultra Fast Broadband for New Zealand, August 2018.

---

Annual Report 2021
01 Chorus Board and management overview
14 Management commentary
24 Financial statements
60 Governance and disclosures
92 Glossary

Patrick Strange
Chair
Mark Cross
Chair Audit & Risk Management Committee
FY21 results overview
1 Excludes partly subsidised education connections provided as part of Chorus’ COVID-19 response.
2 Earnings before interest, income tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) is a non-GAAP profit measure. We monitor this as a key
performance indicator and we believe it assists investors in assessing the performance of the core operations of our business.
3 Based on the average response to four key engagement questions.
EBITDA
2
Customer satisfaction
DividendEmployee engagement score
3
Fixed line connections
1
Broadband connections
1
Fibre connections
1
Net profit after tax
FY21
25cps
FY20
24cps
FY21
8.5 out of 10
3
FY20
8.5
FY21
871,000
FY20
751,000
FY21
$47m
FY20
$52m
FY21
1,180,000
FY20
1,206,000
FY21
1,340,000
FY20
1,415,000
FY21
Installation
8.2 out of 10
(target 8.0)
FY21
Intact
7.5 out of 10
(target 7.5)
FY21
$649m
FY20
$648m
This report is dated 23 August 2021 and is signed on behalf of the  Board of Chorus Limited.

Annual Report 20211
Dear investors
Our focus in FY21 was to help consumers
capitalise on the gigabit head start our fibre
network has given New Zealand. We knocked
on about a quarter of a million doors and
supported our 100 or so retailers to connect
another 120,000 consumers to fibre. This saw
fibre uptake grow from 60% to 65% across the
year and represents strong momentum towards
our target of 1 million connections in 2022.
Pleasingly, we lifted customer satisfaction again,
up from 8.1 out of ten to 8.2 for installations and
up from 7.3 to 7.5 for service to homes with an
existing or ‘intact’ fibre socket.
We continued to expand our fibre footprint under our
public-private partnership with the Government. There
are just 53,000 or so homes and businesses remaining
to pass by the end of 2022. Hundreds of small provincial
communities can already enjoy the socio-economic benefits
of fibre connectivity. As New Zealand turns its focus to the
challenges of climate change, there is a growing appreciation
too of the environmental benefits of fibre broadband.
As the greenest broadband technology, using materially
less electricity than copper or mobile technology, fibre is
reducing Chorus’ network energy needs. It is also enabling
New Zealanders to work more flexibly, lowering commuting-
driven carbon emissions.
Broadband’s role as an essential utility is reflected in the
ongoing surge in data demand. Monthly average household
data usage, including both downloads and uploads, grew
from 350 gigabytes (GB) to 432GB across the year. Fibre
customers averaged 500GB in June, up from 436GB the year
before. At the same time, demand for reliable high capacity
broadband was evident in 1 gigabit per second (Gbps)
connections growing to 19% of our fibre connections, up
from 16% last year. This growth is being increasingly driven by
new entrant retailers from the electricity and pay TV sectors.
We enhanced our product portfolio during the year with
new services to support greater industry peering and data
centre connectivity. An 8Gbps Hyperfibre plan was launched
and our in-home Wi-Fi service is being used by some
smaller retailers. These are not yet large revenue earners,
but they underpin our role as a neutral host helping improve
New Zealand’s connectivity.
We did face some headwinds. COVID-19 continued to make
its presence felt with several short lockdowns in Auckland
affecting our fibre marketing activity. The historic levels of
growth in the broadband market have also been constrained
significantly by restrictions on migration into New Zealand.
These pressures, together with the loss of international
roaming revenue, have seen the traditional vertically
integrated mobile network providers increase their focus on
switching their customers from our network to their fixed
wireless solutions.
At times, these campaigns have led to customer confusion,
especially about the status of the copper network, and
we continue to advocate for clearer product disclosure
requirements to help ensure a level playing field. This is
especially important because fixed wireless services don’t
provide the same level of service as fibre - or even VDSL in
most cases – and these service limitations often aren’t made
clear to the customer.
As expected, other fibre companies continued to win copper
customers in those areas where they have overbuilt our
network with fibre. Together, these factors meant we ended
FY21 with 1,340,000 fixed line connections, down 75,000
lines from the year before. Within this total, broadband
connections were down 26,000 to 1,180,000. Most of this
reduction was in other fibre company areas. Our broadband
connections grew by 5,000 in our UFB areas, helped by
strong premises growth. These totals exclude the 10,000
student households we’ve continued to keep connected
to broadband as part of our COVID-19 response, partly
subsidised for the last quarter by the Ministry of Education.
Softer market conditions due to the ongoing effects of
COVID-19 on demand, together with competition from other
fibre and wireless networks, resulted in a $12 million drop in
revenue compared to FY20. Operating expenses reduced by
$13 million, reflecting our continued tight management of
costs and the absence of the significant one-off COVID-19
costs experienced in FY20.  This helped us just achieve our
goal of a modest increase in EBITDA, with FY21 EBITDA of
$649 million up $1 million from FY20. Net profit after tax was
$47 million compared to $52 million in FY20.
A recruitment freeze for non-critical roles was in place
for much of FY21. This, together with changes to our
organisational structure through the year, saw total employee
numbers reduce to 817. We appreciate the resilience and
professionalism of Chorus employees through this period.
Some of this change reflects our drive to become a more
adaptive organisation. We’ve introduced agile practices into
our technology teams and are focusing on identifying more
opportunities to simplify the way we operate. Despite the
broad spectrum of change we’re operating in, employee
engagement was consistent with FY20 at 8.5 out of ten.
Our flexible working policy has played a large part in this
outcome with most employees working from home at least
two days a week.
A considerable amount of our people’s time and focus was
again required to help with the new utility-style regulatory
regime being established for our fibre access network.
As we noted last year, the Commerce Commission’s initial
settings don't at all reflect the commercial realities of our
investment in fibre. Our subsequent modelling based on
the Commission’s initial draft price-quality decisions has
suggested asset valuation outcomes that have disappointed
investors and could constrain regulated revenues below our
business plan for 2022 to 2024. Such outcomes would lead
to perverse incentives under the regime. We continue to
engage with the Commission on ways to deliver a transition
to the new framework that encourages ongoing investment
for consumer outcomes. It would be a poor outcome for
New Zealand consumers if this wasn’t achieved.
A fully imputed final dividend of 14.5 cents per share will be
paid on 12 October 2021, bringing total dividends for FY21 to
25 cents per share.
HAVE SIGNATURE WILL
PLACE ON APPROVAL

Annual Report 20212
1.1 UFB rollout 95% complete
We finished FY21 with 871,000 active fibre connections
nationwide, up from 751,000 the year before. About 837,000
of these connections were within our planned ultra fast
broadband (UFB) footprint.
Together, the UFB1 and 2 projects have made fibre available
to about 1.28 million homes and businesses. Across the UFB1
area, where deployment work was completed in late 2019, fibre
uptake grew from 63% to 69% of homes and businesses. Uptake
in New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, rose from 68% to 75%.
In UFB2 areas, uptake grew from 37% to 42%, even with the
rollout continuing to add a significant number of available
addresses. Another 69,000 homes and businesses were
passed during the year, from Whitianga with more than 3,000
premises to Fox Glacier with just 100.
Figure x:
Chorus UFB uptake
0%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
UFB1UFB2UFB1 contractual uptake target (by 2020)
FY12
FY19FY18FY17FY16FY15FY14FY13FY20FY21
Figure 1:
Fibre uptake – UFB rollout
1.2 Driving fibre uptake as an active wholesaler
We have a range of in-market activity to promote uptake
of fibre services and help consumers understand that
nothing beats a fibre connection when it comes to reliable,
uncongested and unlimited broadband. Our approach has
become even more important with the large, traditional
broadband retailers preferring to promote their own mobile
and fixed wireless network solutions to their incumbent
customers for financial reasons.
In FY21 our activity was concentrated around our own door
knocking campaigns, retailer incentives and leveraging our
Fibre – It’s how we internet now advertising campaign at
national and local levels. Our managed migration campaigns
again proved very successful in stimulating fibre demand.
About 61,000 addresses received an installation through our
door knocking and direct marketing efforts, up from 32,000
last year. Approximately 30,000 connections resulted from
our migration programme installations.
We provided a range of incentives for retailers to, for
example, migrate ‘late adopters’ from copper to fibre and
win offnet customers onto the 1 gigabit fibre service. Fibre
solutions for price conscious consumers were encouraged
with an incentive for retailers offering a standalone price
point of $60 or less for entry level 50Mbps fibre plans.
The combination of incentives and marketing activity in
UFB1 fibre areas with comparatively low uptake produced
good results. The Wellington-Kapiti region, where we have
had historically low market share due to the presence
of a competing cable network, saw uptake increase by
approximately 10%.
1.3 Customer experience
We’re focussed on doing everything we can to keep improving
the experience consumers have when they connect to
fibre. We were pleased to see customer satisfaction for
fibre installations increase again in FY21, to 8.2 out of 10.
This was above our target of 8.0 on a 12-month average.
Strong satisfaction scores through the year reflect the work
we’ve done with retailers on processes and communication,
a greater proportion of orders via our door knocking
programme and a reduction in the number of delayed
installations. Door knocking typically produces a smoother
connection process because of direct conversations with the
consumer, but we continue to invest so that retailer-driven
connections are as effective as possible.
We put a lot of effort into improving the connection
experience of customers when they move to fibre ‘intact’
premises. These are homes, or businesses, where fibre is
already installed and we just need to activate the broadband
service. We worked closely with retailers to identify initiatives
including clearer communication about the processes for
retailers and consumers, reducing the activation time to
as little as one hour and identifying solutions for situations
where a previous homeowner’s service had not yet been
disconnected. These initiatives produced strong results
and lifted customer satisfaction from 7.3 to our rolling
three-month target of 7.5.
Our investment in automating and streamlining our systems
and processes continues to help retailers enhance their own
service delivery, drive longer term reductions in our operational
costs, and enable much better service to consumers.
Enhanced options for fault diagnosis, for example, has reduced
unnecessary technician visits by almost half. This has in turn
helped us improve restoration times for genuine network faults.
Optimisation of queries into our call centre and the speeding
up of order processing were other areas of focus in FY21.
1.4 Data demand
Average monthly data usage grew by almost a quarter
through FY21 from 350GB to 432GB, with fibre consumers
averaging 500GB a month by the end of the year. Average
throughput on our network at these times is close to
consistently touching the 3 terabit per second record that
was set during the nationwide lockdown in March 2020.
Peak time traffic around 9pm grew by 28%.

Annual Report 20213
This rapid data growth points to the ongoing rise in
consumers streaming online content and we expect this
strong growth to continue in coming years. NZ On Air
consumer research in mid-2020 suggested digital media
audiences were on the cusp of overtaking traditional media
audiences for the first time, with YouTube the leading digital
platform. Daily streamed video on demand had grown to 95
minutes per person from just six minutes the year before.
Other market research has noted the strong growth in video
on-demand subscriptions as the popularity of services like
Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video continues to build.
The shift to online content is only likely to continue
in FY22 with local TV networks expected to offer content
from NBC Universal and Discovery+ as part of their
streaming platforms.
These trends continue to support our forecast of 1,000GB
average monthly demand by 2024. 4K capable TV sets are
sold widely and 4K quality content is beginning to emerge
across online platforms. The shift to online gaming platforms
is expected to drive bandwidth demand further again, as will
the future availability of 8K TVs and content.
Figure 2 :
Average monthly usage per connection on our fibre network
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Jun-21Dec-20Jun-20Dec-19Jun-19Dec-18Jun-18Dec-17Jun-17Dec-16Jun-16Dec-15
DownstreamUpstream (shown from June 2020 onwards)
Average monthly usage (gigabytes)
COVID-19 lockdowns


As expected, the experience of COVID-19 lockdowns and
the shift to more working from home has had a noticeable
effect on consumer behaviour. Daytime bandwidth demand
reflects greater upstream traffic, due to more use of
videoconferencing, and consumers place greater value on
reliable broadband at home. This is reflected in retailers now
offering broadband packages tailored to people spending
more time working from home, with an emphasis on features
such as upload performance and security. We’ve also seen
uptake of 1Gbps connections on our network grow from 16%
to 19% of mass market fibre connections over the year.
The Commerce Commission’s independent broadband
monitoring reports continue to highlight the strong
performance of fibre relative to other technologies when
it comes to features like latency, speed and two-way
traffic. Our fibre and VDSL copper broadband services are
consistently shown as performing better than 4G fixed wireless
at peak times. This reflects the shared nature of wireless
networks, that makes them more prone to congestion.
The report also noted that fixed wireless connections are
more likely to experience issues with applications requiring
low latency, such as online gaming and video calls.
Despite this independent evidence, wireless broadband
providers are not required to disclose the expected
performance of their service. This is the one area of
New Zealand’s broadband regime where we believe
consumer protections are falling very short. In Europe
and Australia, broadband providers for fixed and wireless
networks have the same standards of product disclosure.
In New Zealand, only fixed line broadband consumers are
told exactly what they are getting. This difference is very
concerning when we continue to field reports of consumers
being transferred to a wireless service if they don’t object
within a certain timeframe (known as inertia selling). Some of
these consumers were previously on VDSL services that
provided better performance than the wireless service they
were transferred to.

Annual Report 20214
Figure 3:
Average daily internet usage across the Chorus network 2018 – 2021
Peak trac of 2.81Tbps
2018202120192020
Average daily usage (Tbps)
0
1
2
3
12:00 PM8:00 PM4:00 PM12:00 PM8:00 AM4:00 AM12:00 AM
1.5 Product development
We launched a range of new services through the year as
part of our strategic priority to grow new revenue.
The biggest area of development was in the backhaul space.
Our new mobile access service is growing as mobile network
providers expand their coverage in both urban and rural
areas. We launched a peering service in conjunction with
the New Zealand Internet Exchange to enable retailers to
peer (i.e. exchange data directly between each other) via
our Mount Eden exchange. A new EdgeConnect service
also enables traffic to be connected to a centralised
Internet Exchange from a different city or region using our
extensive network reach. We believe these new services will
significantly improve the peering landscape in New Zealand
with enhanced interconnectivity between service providers.
We developed a backhaul service to connect data centres to
our exchanges and to other data centres. At the same time,
we continue to believe there is a strong opportunity for us
to use our exchanges to support the growing shift in cloud
computing services to network edges. The original trial rack
spaces in our Mount Eden EdgeCentre space are now filled
and we’ve opened new space in Tauranga. We don't intend
to compete with fully fledged data centres, but we believe
that there is a strong opportunity for us to use our exchange
space to support the growing shift in cloud computing
services to network edges. 
We drove rapid uptake of our small business plans with
businesses recognising the added value we’ve provided
through the introduction of enhanced service level
commitments. Fibre connections to smart locations such
as CCTVs and traffic lights continued to grow, but the pace
slowed because of the economic effects of COVID-19.
We expanded on the 2 and 4Gbps Hyperfibre services we
launched in 2020 with the introduction of an 8Gbps service in
Auckland and Wellington. These advanced speeds have been
made possible by the next wave of passive optical network
(PON) technology. Our regular UFB fibre services are provided
on gigabit PON (GPON) technology, while Hyperfibre services
use 10-Gigabit-symmetrical PON (XGS-PON). With the
rapid growth in data needs and the acceleration in fibre
deployments globally, network vendors are already trialling
25 gigabit services as the next evolution in fibre capability.

Annual Report 20215
Figure 4:
Our network infrastructure
1.6 Optimising our non-fibre assets
One of our four strategic pillars is to optimise our non-fibre
assets. We made good progress in FY21.
The Commerce Commission published the final Copper
Withdrawal Code in late 2020, enabling us to begin a small
scale trial of withdrawing copper services in areas where fibre
is available. We’re required to give customers six months'
notice of our intention and have done this for about 1,100
addresses across 129 cabinets to date. This is focused on
cabinets where customer numbers are low and the copper
maintenance costs are very high. The first of these cabinets
are due to be turned off in September 2021. The trial will
be extended to more cabinets as we develop our processes
and the number of customers remaining on copper cabinets
reduces to levels where withdrawal makes sense.
Another programme is underway to rationalise the legacy
network equipment we have in Spark exchanges. This will
result in ongoing cost savings. We’re also reviewing our
network needs outside our fibre areas and we began
disposing of sites that are now non-essential. This includes
old radio sites and surplus exchanges that are no longer
economic to maintain.
2.0
We have about 820 permanent and fixed term
employees and 140 independent contractors for
our core operations. Several thousand service
company workers and subcontractors undertake
activity on our behalf.
Our network infrastructure enables ~100
retail service providers to connect homes
and businesses nationwide.
We’re a wholesale only, fixed line
telecommunications network operator.
A 2017 study
1
estimated the wider social benefits
from fibre uptake at about NZ$2 billion annually,
in addition to a $3 billion annual contribution to
GDP from business uptake.
73% of our broadband connections are fibre,
enabling rapid growth in broadband speeds
and data demand. 8Gbps Hyperfibre speeds
just launched.
Gigabit broadband and our fibre backhaul is
underpinning the development of sustainable
communities through connections to devices and
other network connectivity.
~600
exchanges
~12,000

cabinets
~300,000

poles
~65,000km duct network~57,000km fibre (excluding service leads)

~130,000km of copper
1. Sapere Research Group: Estimating the wider socio-
economic impacts of Ultra Fast Broadband for
New Zealand, August 2017.

Annual Report 20216
The New Zealand market
COVID-19 has slowed overall growth of the
New Zealand broadband market, increasing
competitive intensity between the 100 or so
retail broadband retailers. Industry reports
continue to suggest large incumbent retailers
are experiencing declining market share.
This reflects the way our open access network
fosters competition, enabling all retailers to
offer services on an equivalent basis.
2.1 Bundling of complementary services
Retailers that bundle electricity and broadband services are
winning a growing share of fibre uptake. This bundling play is
being mirrored by Australian electricity retailers.
Contact Energy is particularly active in our market with some
of the sharpest 100Mbps pricing at about $60 per month
when bundled with electricity. This compares to an industry
average of around $85 monthly. Contact is the second
largest electricity and gas retailer with more than 400,000
customers and has doubled its broadband customers to
about 50,000 in FY21.
Trustpower is the fifth largest electricity retailer. It has been
bundling broadband for some years and has grown to be
the fifth largest broadband retailer, with about 110,000 telco
connections. In June its retail business was purchased by
Mercury Energy, New Zealand’s fourth largest electricity
retailer, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. If the
sale proceeds, Mercury’s scale is expected to drive even
more bundling momentum in the market.
Vocus New Zealand has been offering electricity to its telco
customers for some time. It is the third largest broadband
retailer and media reports suggest it may be sold in a
sharemarket listing following a change in the ownership of
Vocus Australia.
Another significant market development was Sky TV’s entry
into the broadband market in the second half of FY21. Sky TV
delivers most of its pay TV content via satellite with set-top
boxes in about one-third of New Zealand households. It also
has approximately 350,000 streaming customers. It has
selected the 1Gbps fibre plan as its ‘hero’ product with a retail
price of $79 for unlimited data for its set-top box customers.
Figure 5:
The New Zealand fixed line market
Rationalisation, new entrants and new business models are disrupting the New Zealand market.
Note: Fibre to the premises will cover ~87% of NZ population by the end of 2022
Power + Broadband
Mobile networkWireless Broadband
Chorus
Nationwide network access
wholesaled to ~100 retail service providers;
Fibre to pass ~1.36m homes and businesses
Local Fibre Companies:
Enable – Ultrafast Fibre – Northpower
Fibre past ~450k homes and businesses
Retail Service
Providers:
Local Media:
(Broadcast)
Local Media:
(On Demand)
Fixed Line
Access
Networks:
TV3
3Now
BBC iPlayer Apple TV Google Play Netflix YouTube Hulu Amazon Disney+
International
media providers:
OnDemand
TVNZSky TV
Neon
Trustpower
Others e.g.
Slingshot, Orcon, Flip
Vocus
Vodafone TV
Vodafone
HFC cable in
Wellington +
Christchurch
(~60k customers)
Spark Sport
+Skinny
Spark
2degrees
Sky
Megatel
Nova Energy
Contact Energy
MyRepublic
Voyager
NOW

Annual Report 20217
2.2 The growing role of Wi-Fi
A notable feature of retail broadband offers in the last 12
months has been the focus on in-home Wi-Fi solutions.
Poor performing Wi-Fi has long been a cause of customer
complaints about broadband performance and the latest
generation of Wi-Fi mesh devices is helping provide a
solution. Various retailers are now providing their own Wi-Fi
devices as a point of difference in their retail offers. These
include Wi-Fi 6 capable devices that enable enhanced speed
and reduced latency.
Our Wi-Fi 5 capable fibre terminals have begun to be used by
some smaller retailers to enable Wi-Fi. This add-on service
removes the need for retailers to dispatch their own routers
to customers and enables customers to get their broadband
up and running almost straight away.
We’re keeping a close eye on global Wi-Fi developments
given its complementary role with fibre access products.
Wi-Fi 6 devices, for example, are seen as a potential
alternative to 5G in enterprise and other private environments
where cost effective capacity and support for a large number
of devices is important. To fully benefit from gigabit speeds
on fibre, homes and businesses need Wi-Fi that can keep
pace. Wi-Fi has long been a hotbed for broadband innovation
and there is a fast-growing global push to release substantial
amounts of unlicensed spectrum in the 6GHz range.
This would greatly expand the capability of Wi-Fi, enabling
substantial increases in real world speeds and encouraging
development of new consumer devices and applications.
New Zealand is currently consulting on its approach to this
spectrum.
2.3 Fixed wireless
New Zealand’s third mobile network operator, 2degrees,
has now joined Spark and Vodafone in offering fixed wireless
services. The Commerce Commission reported there were
221,000 customers on fixed wireless in 2019/20. These
customers are mostly on a 4G service, with Vodafone
and Spark continuing to build out their 5G coverage in
selected centres.
2degrees has said it will have 5G in market by the end of
2021. It is the fourth largest broadband retailer and there are
reports it may also be listed publicly in the near future.
Vodafone has said it hopes 25% of its broadband customers
will migrate to its fixed wireless network while Spark has said
its aspiration is 30% to 40% of its base. Both retailers offer
unlimited data plans on fixed wireless, although fair use
policies apply.
Increased spectrum capacity will become available for
fixed wireless services through the auction of 3.5GHz and
millimetre wave spectrum by late 2022. In the meantime,
short term management rights for 3.5GHz spectrum have
been allocated, enabling some expansion of 5G coverage.
While fixed wireless has become a viable product for some
customers it cannot offer the same level of service as fibre.
This is well demonstrated by the independent monitoring by
the Commerce Commission.
2.4 Rural broadband
Chorus operates ADSL and VDSL broadband across large
parts of rural New Zealand. We’ve currently ruled out
expanding fibre coverage to existing communities beyond
our planned UFB footprint. This is because of the restrictive
rate of allowable returns and geographic pricing constraints
that apply to our services under the regulatory framework.
The Rural Connectivity Group, a joint venture between
the three mobile network operators, is building hundreds
of rural mobile sites under a rural service agreement with
the Government. Chorus is providing fibre backhaul for
the cellsites within fibre reach for a 10-year period. These
new towers are increasing the footprint for fixed wireless
competition, but they won’t cover the most remote copper
network customers.
Starlink has begun providing low earth orbit satellite
broadband as a beta service in parts of New Zealand.
Pricing is around $160 monthly for unlimited data, plus the
upfront cost of customer premises equipment at around
$800, with indicative speeds said to be between 50 to 150
megabits per second (Mbps). This service could provide an
alternative for rural customers, particularly where copper
speeds are low.
The net effect of these developments is that it is becoming
less economic for Chorus to invest in further upgrades to its
rural network.

Annual Report 20218
Figure 6:
Summary of key market trends
Our market driversWhat we’re focussed on
Large vertically integrated retailers are
encouraging customers to use their own fixed
wireless, cable and legacy fibre networks to
reduce their wholesale network costs.
We’re an active wholesaler, promoting our extensive broadband footprint
through advertising, retailer campaigns and our own door knocking initiatives.
Our network supports about 100 retailers, including new entrants from the
electricity and pay TV sectors.
Competing fibre companies have overbuilt our
existing copper network with fibre as part of the
Government’s UFB programme.
We’re optimising our business in these competing areas and maximising
our broadband share in other areas experiencing premises growth,
particularly Auckland.
Traditional voice only connections are declining
with changing demographics and wireless
service options.
Broadband penetration is growing, but at a slower rate due to the market effects
of COVID-19. We’re commercialising new potential revenue streams identified
by our innovation programme, such as data centres and smart city connectivity.
Technology keeps evolving, with 5G potentially
enhancing the capability of mobile/wireless
technologies as a fixed line alternative for
low data users.
Fibre is recognised as providing highly reliable broadband, particularly at peak
usage times. About 19% of our fibre consumers are on 1Gbps services and we’ve
launched Hyperfibre products up to 8Gbps. We see 5G as complementary
technology with more cellsites likely to require fibre backhaul.
3.0

Annual Report 20219
Regulatory environment
We operate our wholesale only network within
the regulatory framework established by the
Telecommunications Act. We’re also subject
to the requirements of four open access deeds
of undertaking for copper, fibre and Rural
Broadband Initiative services that focus on the
provision of services on a non-discriminatory
basis. This regime will remain in place alongside
the revised utility model now being implemented
by the Commerce Commission (the Commission).
3.1 Moving to a regulated utility model
In November 2018, the Telecommunications (New
Regulatory Framework) Amendment Act passed into law with
bipartisan political support. This marked the culmination of
five years of policy review of the regulatory framework that
applies to our business and the decision to transition to a
utility-style framework for fibre access services.
Under the new framework our fibre investment will be
regulated according to a utility style building block model
from 2022. This model is already used to regulate other
New Zealand utility businesses, such as electricity lines
and gas networks. It is intended to support private sector
investment to meet network upgrades and increasing
consumer demands through ongoing incentives to innovate,
invest and improve efficiency for the long term benefit
of customers.
The legislation also provides for deregulation of copper
services in areas where fibre is available. This includes
the ability to withdraw copper once consumer protection
requirements are met, as set out under the Commission’s
Copper Withdrawal Code. Copper services remain regulated
in areas where fibre is not available, with copper prices
annually adjusted for inflation.
Key features of the new fibre regime are:
• key fibre prices are frozen at 2020 pricing levels, adjusted
for inflation, until 2022.
• “anchor” or declared services (e.g. fibre voice services,
direct fibre access, 100Mbps fibre) are regulated from
2022-2024.
• unbundling of the fibre network is available in UFB1 areas
on a commercial basis.
Figure 7:
New regulatory framework to replace UFB contractual framework by January 2022
87% of population where fibre will be available by end of 2022Remaining 13% of population
Fibre access network
• Regulated asset base (RAB) with revenue cap
to be determined by Commerce Commission
• Price caps on contracted fibre products,
with annual inflation adjustment, until 2022.
Price caps then apply to "anchor" or declared
services: fibre voice service, a fibre broadband
service and a direct fibre access service
• Unbundled fibre (commercial price)
available in UFB1 areas from 2020
and UFB2 areas from 2026
• Three years after new regime commences,
the Commission can review the revenue
cap model and anchor products, subject to
specified conditions and statutory criteria
Copper - where fibre is available:
• Copper network deregulated and
Telecommunications Service Obligation
(TSO) removed
• Chorus can withdraw copper service,
subject to minimum consumer protection
requirements, developed by the
Commission
Copper - where fibre is not available:
• Copper remains regulated and TSO applies
• Copper pricing adjusted annually for
inflation
• Commission required to review pricing
framework no later than 2025

Annual Report 202110
3.2 Fibre input methodologies and
Price-Quality process
In late 2020 the Commission released its final decisions on
the Fibre Input Methodologies. These set the framework
for determining the key elements of the new regime, such
as the starting value of our regulated asset base (RAB), the
regulatory weighted average cost of capital, cost allocations,
and our maximum allowable revenue (MAR). Taken together,
these elements determine the revenues we can earn from
our regulated fibre network.
The Input Methodologies requirements underpinned our
Initial Asset Value model submitted to the Commission in
March 2021 under the Price-Quality process. This model
suggested a conservative starting RAB of $5.5 billion for
Chorus’ fixed line fibre access services at 1 January 2022.
We also provided an alternative cost allocation approach
supporting a RAB of approximately $6 billion if the full costs
of structural separation, as required by the public-private
partnership with the Government, were considered.
In mid-May 2021 we provided our MAR submission to
the Commission for the first regulatory period from 2022
to 2024. This indicated an annual revenue cap range of
$720 million to $820 million during the period and was
consistent with our forecast fibre revenues. Our proposal
included the use of tilted depreciation to ensure a smooth
transition into the new regulatory regime and provide
positive incentives to keep growing the fibre business.
In late May the Commission released a draft price-quality
determination that referenced an annual revenue range
of $689 million to $786 million. The decision included a
diminishing value depreciation method for the financial loss
asset, a preliminary post-tax weighted average cost of capital
(WACC) of 4.46%, and reductions to our proposed capital
and operating expenditure.
In July 2021 the Commission determined a mid-point vanilla
WACC of 4.72% and a post-tax WACC of 4.52% for the
first regulatory period from 2022 to 2024. As we’ve noted
previously, this level of WACC is below that required to
ensure our cost of capital reflects a fair return to investors,
given the substantial investment risks taken in financing the
fibre network and the technological risk that could emerge
over time.
On 19 August 2021 the Commission released a draft
decision proposing an initial RAB of $5.427 billion for
Chorus’ regulated fibre business from January 2022. The
Commission’s draft RAB is made up of core fibre assets of
$3.98 billion and a financial loss asset of $1.446 billion. The
Commission noted that if all other aspects of its draft price-
quality decision in May remained unchanged, its indicative
estimate of the combined impact of these decisions would
lead to a 2%-2.5% reduction in Chorus’ MAR over the first
regulatory period.
Poor outcomes for consumers and perverse incentives for
Chorus will arise if the revenue cap ends up constraining our
natural expected rate of growth. Consumers are currently
benefitting from strong network investment, incentives to
encourage fibre uptake and the ongoing development of
new and higher-speed products. We would have limited
incentives to keep growing and enhancing fibre services
if the revenue cap is met when fibre uptake has only just
reached 65%: this would be a very perverse outcome.
Significant steps remain to be completed under the
Commission’s process. We continue to make extensive
submissions in support of a smooth revenue path into the
new regime that ensures consumers continue to benefit from
investment in world class fibre services. We’ve also requested
that the Commission expedite its processes so that we have
sufficient certainty of outcomes ahead of the January 2022
implementation date.
Indicative fibre regulation timeline
August 2021Initial Price-Quality RAB
draft decision
December 2021Transitional Price-Quality
RAB final decision
Price-Quality final decision
Mid 2022
Initial Price-Quality RAB final
decision
3.3 Commercial services for fibre unbundling
We’ve built our fibre network to enable unbundled fibre
services by providing a second fibre to each premises.
This means retailers can choose to use our passive
infrastructure - fibre optic cables, ducts, and poles – and their
own broadband electronics, to deliver services to customers.
We’ve developed commercial terms for our point-to-
multipoint layer 1 fibre access service (PONFAS), including
a monthly access charge of about $28 per month to cover
access to the fibre between the premises and the splitter, as
well as $200 per month to access the feeder fibre from each
splitter to a central network point. The pricing reflects the fact
that passive infrastructure costs, known as layer 1, comprise
most of our rollout investment, with broadband electronics,
known as layer 2, representing a very small component.
The Commission has developed guidance on fibre
equivalence and non-discrimination obligations following
concerns from some retailers about our PONFAS terms. It is
currently conducting a compliance assessment of the non-
price terms of all Local Fibre Companies’ layer 1 fibre access
services. Unbundled services will not be available in UFB2
areas until 2026.
4.0

Annual Report 202111
Outlook
FY22 is a crossroads year for Chorus and
the ongoing development of New Zealand’s
broadband landscape. We’ve invested billions of
dollars since 2011 to help create a fibre network
that other countries are now racing to replicate.
The challenges of COVID-19 have accelerated
the digitalisation of socio-economic activity
and demand for bandwidth that’s always on has
made fibre networks a must have. In Australia
the government-owned National Broadband
Network has said it will upgrade up to 2 million
more premises to full fibre. In the United
Kingdom, BT has committed to take fibre to
25 million homes after regulatory commitments
to a fair return on fibre investment.
With our fibre network now 95% complete, our strategy for
FY22 remains largely unchanged. At its core, we’re more
focussed than ever on making New Zealand better. We want
to keep unlocking the potential of fibre by continuing to
connect people and technology, while developing services
that underpin even better applications and use of the cloud.
We’ve put our new sustainability policy at the heart of our
strategy with an emphasis on helping more Kiwis participate
in a positive digital life. Our first Sustainability Report has
been published alongside this Annual Report. Greater
adoption of digital tools and solutions, backed by the low
emission advantages of fibre broadband, has an important
part to play in accelerating New Zealand’s journey to carbon
neutrality. We’ll be working with groups like Senior Net
and Digital Journeys to help close the digital divide and
strengthen digital skills of people and businesses.
We’ve got plenty of work to do to get to our goal of 1 million
fibre connections by the end of 2022. Fixed wireless
services can deliver a broadband service that may provide
a credible alternative for some customers, depending on
things like coverage and data needs. We’re comfortable
with competition, but we believe consumers should be fully
informed about their options and the characteristics of the
product they are paying for. Too often we’re being contacted
by consumers who haven’t realised that they’ve been
switched from a fixed line, or where their wireless service is
of a lower quality.
This is why we’ve been investing in strong public information
campaigns and advertising activity. We want consumers
to be able to make an informed choice. We’ve also been
providing retailers with marketing incentives to promote
fibre uptake. These are a critical tool for us when mobile
network operators have substantial retail market power, large
incumbent customer bases, and prefer that consumers use
their wireless networks. The playing field is further tilted
in their favour because, unlike fibre, fixed wireless services
aren’t subject to price or quality regulation.
We're encouraged by recent Commerce Commission
proposals to require retailers to provide clearer product
disclosure for consumers. However, we’re concerned by the
suggestion in the Commission’s draft price-quality decision
that our retailer incentives require a drawn-out approval
process. This would tilt the retail broadband market in the
favour of large incumbents that do not have the willingness
to promote fibre like the smaller retailers do.
We wrote to the Commission to express our concern that this
approach and their draft cuts to our expenditure proposals
do not adequately reflect our market context. Taken together
with the low WACC settings and our proposed initial asset
valuation of $5.5 billion, there is a genuine risk that the
new regulatory framework could discourage anything but
essential investment for the next three years.
Chorus’ share price has dropped substantially over the last
six months, reflecting initial asset valuations below market
expectations and the potential for the cap on our regulated
fibre revenues to be set below our business plan forecasts.
Investors are concerned that the regulatory process has
retrospectively written down the value of the investment
we’ve made in the fibre network over the last decade. This is
an extremely poor advertisement for investment in future
New Zealand infrastructure public-private partnerships.
Market analysis suggests that a fairer approach to our
investment risks, the cost of equity and the treatment of
Crown funding should value the fibre network at more
than $7 billion. Our initial $5.5 billion valuation, based on
measures that don’t reflect our commercial reality, means
we’ve had to propose acceleration of depreciation as a
way to bridge the potential gap between our business plan
revenue forecasts and the revenue cap for 2022 to 2024.
With fibre uptake at 65%, a revenue cap that doesn’t allow
for growth at the rate we’ve forecast means we would be

Annual Report 202112
discouraged from making ongoing discretionary investment
in fibre. We’ve already responded to investor feedback by
ruling out expansion of the fibre footprint into more rural
areas under current settings. Our investment appetite for
things like the expansion of our Hyperfibre footprint and
projects to enhance network resilience will also be shaped by
regulatory outcomes.
In the meantime, we’re proceeding with our current business
plan. We’ll continue to promote the migration of copper
customers to fibre and there will be a growing, but still very
modest, number of copper broadband cabinets that we can
retire. And just so there’s no confusion, our copper network
is not being shut down on a widespread basis. It’s still very
much a street by street proposition. As the Commerce
Commission’s broadband monitoring shows, our copper
network continues to provide a high quality of service.
We’ll keep making our organisation more adaptive and even
easier for customers to deal with. In FY22 we’re lifting our
focus on customer experience measures from installations
and intact connections to include a new service assurance
measure. Customer experience will also be an important
element of our new service company contracts from
March 2022.
The unrelenting growth in demand for data, the increasing
reliance on both high-speed download and upload
performance, as well as the emerging awareness of fibre
broadband’s contribution to sustainability, are all underlying
trends that support our business. Our Hyperfibre services
are already making 8Gbps symmetrical speeds available
and 25Gbps capability is on the horizon. This is why fibre
remains the world’s fastest growing and most future proof
access technology.
The rapid evolution of cloud computing and Wi-Fi capability
is exciting and points to future revenue opportunities for us
to explore. We’ve made a promising start with EdgeCentre
facilities and services that leverage our role as a neutral host.
Wi-Fi applications and technologies are where significant
innovation is occurring and governments around the world
have begun to acknowledge this with increased Wi-Fi
spectrum allocations.
Decisions on policy matters like this and within our
broader regulatory context have the potential to amplify
the consumer benefits from fibre in the next few years.
New Zealand has a gigabit head start over the rest of the
world. Let’s make the most of that advantage.