Chorus Q4 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

11 July 2022

Q4 FY22 overview

Total fibre connections increased by 20k to 959,000 (Q3 FY22: +21k)

Fibre uptake across the completed UFB footprint grew by 0.9% to 69% (rounded) with deployment
continuing
• 0.9% increase in the quarter while the fibre footprint passed another 9k customers
• mass market fibre broadband connections increased by 20k despite COVID impacts on
installation and technician activity, and service company transition
• uptake reached 74% (+1%) in UFB1 areas and 50% (+2%) in UFB2 areas
• Auckland reached 79% (+1%) uptake, while Wellington continued to grow strongly to 68%
(+2%)
• the fibre rollout was recently completed in Matakana Village, Seddon, Waikouaiti, Nightcaps
and Ohai
Total broadband connections decreased 1k to 1,189,000* (Q3 FY22: +3k)
• 4k connections were added in Chorus UFB areas
• 1Gbps connections were ~30% of fibre adds in Q4
• Hyperfibre 2/4/8Gbps connections now ~1k
Copper broadband and voice connections declined by 33k (Q3 FY22: -29k)
• voice only disconnections were up slightly at 12k (Q3 FY22: -10k)
• copper withdrawal: 84 copper broadband cabinets no longer have active customers (Q3
FY22: 41 cabinets)
• total fixed line connections declined by 13k to 1,304,000* (Q3 FY22: -8k)
Average monthly data usage on fibre was 567GB in June (March: 578GB) likely reflecting workers
returning to offices

*totals exclude ~9,000 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

---

Q4 FY22 Connections Update
11 July 2022
Q4 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE

>Fibre uptake across the completed UFB footprint grew by 0.9% to 69% (rounded) with deployment continuing
▪0.9% increase in the quarter while the fibre footprint passed another 9k customers
▪mass market fibre broadband connections increased by 20k despite COVID impacts on installation and technician
activity, and service company transition
▪uptake reached 74% (+1%) in UFB1 areas and 50% (+2%) in UFB2 areas
▪Auckland reached 79% (+1%) uptake, while Wellington continued to grow strongly to 68% (+2%)
▪the fibre rollout was recently completed in Matakana Village, Seddon, Waikouaiti, Nightcaps and Ohai
>Total broadband connections decreased 1k to 1,189,000* (Q3 FY22: +3k)
▪4k connections were added in Chorus UFB areas
▪1Gbps connections were ~30% of fibre adds in Q4
▪Hyperfibre2/4/8Gbps connections now ~1k
>Copper broadband and voice connections declined by 33k (Q3 FY22: -29k)
▪voice only disconnections were up slightly at 12k (Q3 FY22: -10k)
▪copper withdrawal: 84 copper broadband cabinets no longer have active customers (Q3 FY22: 41 cabinets)
▪total fixed line connections declined by 13k to 1,304,000* (Q3 FY22: -8k)
>Average monthly data usage on fibre was 567GB in June (March: 578GB) likely reflecting workers returning to
offices
11 July 2022
Q4 FY22 overview
Total fibre connections increased by 20k to 959,000 (Q3 FY22: +21k)
Q4 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
*totals exclude ~9,000 broadband
connections Chorus is partly subsidising
for student households
2

11 July 2022
Connection changes by Zone (indicative as at30 June)
* Includes planned Chorus UFB1, 2 and 2+ coverage
**Excludes 9k partly subsidised education connections and 12k fibre premium and data services (copper) connections
4
7
9
7
5
-3
-2
-2
-1
-1
-2
-2
-3
-3
-5
-8
-7
-6
-8
-10
-2
-1
-2
-1
-2
-2
-2
-2
-3
-2
-10-50510
Q4 FY22
Q3 FY22
Q2 FY22
Q1 FY22
Q4 FY21
Q4 FY22
Q3 FY22
Q2 FY22
Q1 FY22
Q4 FY21
Q4 FY22
Q3 FY22
Q2 FY22
Q1 FY22
Q4 FY21
Broadband connections
Copper (no broadband) connections
Quarterly change (’000s) by zone**
Q4 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
Other fibre
company (LFC)
zone
Broadband connections35,000Disconnections continue due to Local Fibre
Company and fixed wireless provider activity,
with some slowdown due to COVID-19 effects.
Copper line (no broadband)19,000
TOTAL54,000
Non-UFB zoneBroadband connections142,000Some expansion of wireless broadband footprint
through Government backed programme. New
housing outside of UFB zone driving fibre
premises growth.
Copper line (no broadband)29,000
TOTAL171,000
Chorus UFB zone*Broadband connections1,012,000Continued 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)55,000
TOTAL1,067,000
3

0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
30-Jun-2130-Sep-2131-Dec-2131-Mar-2230-Jun-22
11 July 2022
30 June
2021
30 Sept
2021
31 Dec
2021
31 March
2022
30 June
2022
Unbundled copper
(no broadband)
10,0008,0006,0003,0001,000
Baseband copper
(no broadband)
137,000127,000119,000112,000102,000
Copper ADSL
(includes naked)
163,000152,000142,000133,000122,000
VDSL
(includes naked)
157,000148,000138,000128,000118,000
Fibre broadband
(GPON)
860,000883,000907,000929,000949,000
Data services
(copper)
2,0002,0002,0002,0002,000
Fibre premium
(P2P)
11,00011,00011,00010,00010,000
Total connections
1,340,0001,331,0001,325,0001,317,0001,304,000
Fibre (GPON)
VDSL
Copper ADSL
Unbundled copper
Baseband copper
Fibre comprises 74% of Chorus connections
>1,189,000 broadband connections comprises:
▪949,000 fibre (GPON) connections
▪240,000 VDSL/ADSL (copper) connections
Business premium
Note: 9,000 partly subsidisededucation connections are excluded from this data
Q4 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
4

>Managed installations remained limited by COVID-related
constraints on consumer facing activity and workforce
▪activations of installed fibre sockets (ONTs) lifted from
8k (Q3) to 9k as we reoriented marketing activity
▪46% of these activations were at offnet addresses
11 July 2022
Managed migration programme lifts uptake
~10k managed migration installations completed in Q4 (Q3 FY22: 10k)
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
Q4 FY21Q1 FY22Q2 FY22Q3 FY22Q4 FY22
Managed migration programme
InstallationsConnections
Q4 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
5

>300Mbps plans account for 68% of residential connections
>~30% of fibre adds were 1Gbps plans in Q4; 1Gbps uptake remains at 23% of residential connections
>Hyperfibre2/4/8Gbps connections now ~1k
11 July 2022
Q4 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
Mass market fibre connections grew 20k
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 2022June 2022
Business
1Gbps500Mbps300Mbps200Mbps100Mbps<100MbpsVoice
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
700000
800000
900000
June 2021Sept 2021Dec 2021Mar 2022June 2022
Residential
1Gbps300Mbps200Mbps100Mbps50MbpsVoice
6

50%
55%
60%
65%
70%
75%
80%
85%
AucklandDunedinWellington
UFB uptake by quarter
Jun-21Sep-21Dec-21Mar-22Jun-22
Auckland UFB uptake grew to 79%
>Total UFB uptake of 69% (rounded) within completed
footprint in Q4*
▪uptake in UFB1 areas grew from 73% to 74%
▪uptake in UFB2 areas grew from 48% to 50%
▪919,000 connections (Q3 FY22: 901,000) now within
completed footprint, including business premium connections
▪1,324,000customers able to connect (Q3 FY22: 1,315,000)
▪1,037,000 premises passed** (Q3 FY22: 1,029,000) 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)
>25,000 fibre installations completed in Q4 (Q3 FY22: 28k)
▪customer satisfaction reduced from 8.1 to 7.8
▪WIP steady at ~14k
▪field crews reduced from ~540 to ~520
* includes ~3k partly subsidised education connections
**under the UFB contract, a multi-dwelling unit or single office block is one premises
Uptake
11 July 2022
Q4 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
▪Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin cover >70% of
UFB1 homes and businesses able to connect
▪90% of Chorus’ broadband connections in our
planned UFB zone are now on fibre
student
holidays
7

Monthly average data usage on fibre 567gigabytes
>Slight reduction in average usage likely reflecting
workers returning to offices
▪567GBon fibre (March:578GB)
▪282GBon copper (March:277GB)
▪508GBaverage (March:511GB)
>Average peak throughput on our network at peak time
(~9pm) was consistent at 3.3Tbps
11 July 2022
282
567
508
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
Q4 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
8

11 July 2022
Commerce Commission broadband testing report
▪The Commerce Commission’s Measuring Broadband New Zealand, Autumn Report (June 2022) continues to highlight the
strong performance of fibre relative to other technologies, particularly for download, upload and latency.
Q4 FY22 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
Source: Commerce Commission
9