Chorus Q3 FY22 Connections update

Chorus Limited
Level 10, 1 Willis Street
P O Box 632
Wellington
New Zealand

Email: company.secretary@chorus.co.nz

STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT

13 April 2022
Q3 FY22 overview

Total fibre connections increased by 21k to 939,000 (Q2 FY22: +24k)


Fibre uptake across the completed UFB footprint grew from 67% to 69%
• mass market fibre broadband connections increased by 22k despite the summer
holiday period and the ongoing effects of COVID alert levels on our migration
programme
• uptake reached 73% (+1%) in UFB1 areas and 48% (+2%) in UFB2 areas
• the fibre rollout was recently completed in Omaha, Bulls, Himatangi Beach and St
Arnaud

Total broadband connections increased 3k to 1,190,000* (Q2 FY22: +4k)
• 7k connections were added in Chorus UFB areas
• 1Gbps connections were ~1/3 of fibre adds in Q3
• new 50/10Mbps fibre starter plan in market with good initial interest from retailers

Copper broadband and voice connections declined by 29k (Q2 FY22: -30k)
• voice only disconnections were consistent at 10k (Q2 FY22: -10k)
• copper withdrawal: 41 copper broadband cabinets no longer have active
customers
• total fixed line connections declined by 8k to 1,317,000* (Q2 FY22: -6k)

Average monthly data usage was 511GB in March (Dec: 479GB)
• average monthly data usage on fibre was 578GB vs 554GB in December

*totals exclude approximately 10,000 broadband connections Chorus is partly subsidising for student
households

Authorised by:


JB Rousselot
Chief Executive Officer

ENDS

For further information:

Steve Pettigrew
Head of External Communications
Mobile +64 (27) 258 6257
Email: Steve.Pettigrew@chorus.co.nz

Brett Jackson
Investor Relations Manager
Phone: +64 4 896 4039
Mobile: +64 (27) 488 7808
Email: Brett.Jackson@chorus.co.nz

---

Q3 FY22 Connections Update
13 April 2022
Q3 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE

>Fibre uptake across the completed UFB footprint grew from 67% to 69%
▪mass market fibre broadband connections increased by 22k despite the summer holiday period and the ongoing effects
of COVID alert levels on our migration programme
▪uptake reached 73% (+1%) in UFB1 areas and 48% (+2%) in UFB2 areas
▪the fibre rollout was recently completed in Omaha, Bulls, HimatangiBeach and St Arnaud
>Total broadband connections increased 3k to 1,190,000* (Q2 FY22: +4k)
▪7k connections were added in Chorus UFB areas
▪1Gbps connections were ~1/3 of fibre adds in Q3
▪new 50/10Mbps fibre starter plan in market with good initial interest from retailers
>Copper broadband and voice connections declined by 29k (Q2 FY22: -30k)
▪voice only disconnections were consistent at 10k (Q2 FY22: -10k)
▪copper withdrawal: 41 copper broadband cabinets no longer have active customers
▪total fixed line connections declined by 8k to 1,317,000* (Q2 FY22: -6k)
>Average monthly data usage was 511GB in March (Dec: 479GB)
▪average monthly data usage on fibre was 578GB vs 554GB in December
13 April 2022
Q3 FY22 overview
Total fibre connections increased by 21k to 939,000 (Q2 FY22: +24k)
Q3 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
*totals exclude ~10,000 broadband
connections Chorus is partly subsidising
for student households
2

13 April 2022
Connection changes by Zone (indicative as at31 March)
* Includes planned Chorus UFB1, 2 and 2+ coverage
**Excludes 10k partly subsidised education connections and 12k fibre premium and data services (copper) connections
7
9
7
5
6
-2
-2
-1
-1
-2
-2
-3
-3
-5
-6
-7
-6
-8
-10
-8
-1
-2
-1
-2
-1
-2
-2
-3
-2
-2
-10-50510
Q3 FY22
Q2 FY22
Q1 FY22
Q4 FY21
Q3 FY21
Q3 FY22
Q2 FY22
Q1 FY22
Q4 FY21
Q3 FY21
Q3 FY22
Q2 FY22
Q1 FY22
Q4 FY21
Q3 FY21
Broadband connections
Copper (no broadband) connections
Quarterly change (’000s) by zone**
Q3 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
Other fibre
company (LFC)
zone
Broadband connections37,000Disconnections continue due to Local Fibre
Company and fixed wireless provider activity,
with some slowdown due to COVID-19 effects.
Copper line (no broadband)21,000
TOTAL58,000
Non-UFB zoneBroadband connections145,000Some expansion of wireless broadband footprint
through Government backed programme. New
housing outside of UFB zone driving fibre
premises growth.
Copper line (no broadband)31,000
TOTAL176,000
Chorus UFB zone*Broadband connections1,008,000Continued broadband growth driven by Chorus
incentives and migration campaigns. Copper
voice disconnections reflect migration to fibre
and targeted fixed wireless activities.
Copper line (no broadband)63,000
TOTAL1,071,000
3

0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
31-Mar-2130-Jun-2130-Sep-2131-Dec-2131-Mar-22
13 April 2022
31 March
2021
30 June
2021
30 Sept
2021
31 Dec
2021
31 March
2022
Unbundled copper
(no broadband)
11,00010,0008,0006,0003,000
Baseband copper
(no broadband)
150,000137,000127,000119,000112,000
Copper ADSL
(includes naked)
180,000163,000152,000142,000133,000
VDSL
(includes naked)
170,000157,000148,000138,000128,000
Fibre broadband
(GPON)
831,000860,000883,000907,000929,000
Data services
(copper)
3,0002,0002,0002,0002,000
Fibre premium
(P2P)
11,00011,00011,00011,00010,000
Total connections
1,356,0001,340,0001,331,0001,325,0001,317,000
Fibre (GPON)
VDSL
Copper ADSL
Unbundled copper
Baseband copper
Fibre comprises 71% of Chorus connections
>1,190,000 broadband connections comprises:
▪929,000 fibre (GPON) connections
▪261,000 VDSL/ADSL (copper) connections
Business premium
Note: 10,000 partly subsidisededucation connections are excluded from this data
Q3 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
4

>Installation activity was slightly lower than Q2 due to the
summer holiday period and COVID alert levels continuing
to affect some consumer facing activity
▪activations of installed fibre sockets (ONTs) were
steady at 8k for the quarter
▪52% of these activations were at offnet addresses
13 April 2022
Managed migration programme lifts uptake
~10k managed migration installations completed in Q3 (Q2 FY22: 11k)
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
Q3 FY21Q4 FY21Q1 FY22Q2 FY22Q3 FY22
Managed migration programme
InstallationsConnections
Q3 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
5

13 April 2022
Q3 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
Mass market fibre connections grew 22k
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
800,000
900,000
June 2021Sept 2021Dec 2021Mar 2022
Residential
1Gbps300Mbps200Mbps
100Mbps50MbpsVoice
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
90,000
100,000
June 2021Sept 2021Dec 2021Mar 2022
Business
1Gbps500Mbps300Mbps200Mbps
100Mbps<100MbpsVoice
>~1/3 of fibre adds were 1Gbps plans in Q3; 1Gbps uptake remains at 23% of mass market connections
>new 50/10 fibre starter plan in market with good initial interest from retailers
6

50%
55%
60%
65%
70%
75%
80%
AucklandDunedinWellington
UFB uptake by quarter
Mar-21Jun-21Sep-21Dec-21Mar-22
UFB uptake grows to 69%
>UFB uptake increased from 67% to 69% within completed
footprint in Q3*
▪uptake in UFB1 areas grew from 72% to 73%
▪uptake in UFB2 areas grew from 46% to 48%
▪901,000 connections (Q2 FY22: 881,000) now within
completed footprint, including business premium connections
▪1,315,000customers able to connect (Q2 FY22: 1,308,000)
▪1,029,000 premises passed** (Q2 FY22: 1,022,000) out of
1,054,000 target = UFB rollout 98% complete
(note: data includes some UFB2 areas that have been partially built, but not yet submitted
for Crown sign-off)
>28,000 fibre installations completed in Q3 (Q2 FY22: 34k)
▪customer satisfaction reduced from 8.3 to 8.1
▪WIP increased from 13k to ~14k
▪field crews reduced from ~600 to ~540
* includes ~3k partly subsidised education connections
**under the UFB contract, a multi-dwelling unit or single office block is one premises
Uptake
13 April 2022
Q3 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
▪Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin cover >70% of
UFB1 homes and businesses able to connect
▪89% of Chorus’ broadband connections in our
planned UFB zone are now on fibre
student
holidays
7

Monthly average data usage on fibre 554gigabytes
>Monthly data usage continues to grow
▪578GBon fibre (Dec:554GB)
▪277GBon copper (Dec:273GB)
▪511GBaverage (Dec:479GB)
>Average peak throughput on our network at peak time
(~9pm) was 3.3Tbps in March, up from 2.9Tbps in Dec
13 April 2022
277
578
511
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
CopperFibreAverage
Data
usage
(GB)
Monthly average data usage per connection on
our network*
* includes upstream traffic from June 2020 onwards
Q3 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
8

13 April 2022
Commerce Commission broadband testing report
▪The Commerce Commission’s Measuring Broadband New Zealand, Summer Report (March 2022) continues to highlight
the strong performance of fibre relative to other technologies, particularly for upload and latency.
Q3 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
Source: Commerce Commission
9