Chorus Q3 FY23 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 April 2023

Q3 FY23 overview

Total fibre connections increased by 15k to 1,012,000 (Q2 FY23: +17k)
UFB uptake increased from 71% to 72% across the completed footprint in Q3
• 76% uptake (+0.5%) in UFB1 areas and 54% uptake (+2%) in UFB2 areas
• Auckland reached 81% uptake (+0.5%), while Wellington grew to 71% (+1%) and Dunedin
rebounded to 74% (+2%) with the end of student holidays
Total broadband connections were steady at 1,188,000* (Q2 FY23: -2k)
• field workforce resources continued to constrain connection activity for much of Q3, with
extreme weather events adding further challenges and resulting in some ongoing
disconnections in areas where homes were damaged
• 6k broadband connections were added in Chorus UFB areas (Q2 FY23: +3k)
• 1Gbps and Hyperfibre connections were 46% of net mass market fibre adds in Q3 (Q2 FY23:
36%)
• Home Fibre Starter (50Mbps) connections grew 130% to 10k
Copper broadband and voice connections declined by 21k (Q2 FY23: -29k)
• voice only disconnections slowed to -5k (Q2 FY23: -10k)
• total fixed line connections declined by 6k to 1,279,000* (Q2 FY23: -12k)
• copper withdrawal: 330 copper broadband cabinets no longer have active customers (Q2
FY23: 268 cabinets)
Average monthly data usage reduced slightly to 502GB in March (Dec: 512GB)
• March data usage was notable for ongoing reductions in North Island areas affected by prior
extreme weather events, while December usage stats included the school holiday period
*totals exclude 6,000 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
Patrick Wilkes
Assistant Treasurer
Mobile: +64 (27) 637 1970
Email: patrick.wilkes@chorus.co.nz

---

Q3 FY23 Connections Update
11 April 2023

>UFB uptake increased from 71% to 72% across the completed footprint in Q3
▪76% uptake (+0.5%) in UFB1 areas and 54% uptake (+2%) in UFB2 areas
▪Auckland reached 81% uptake (+0.5%), while Wellington grew to 71% (+1%) and Dunedin rebounded to 74% (+2%)
with the end of student holidays
>Total broadband connections were steady at 1,188,000* (Q2 FY23: -2k)
▪field workforce resources continued to constrain connection activity for much of Q3, with extreme weather events adding
further challenges and resulting in some ongoing disconnections in areas where homes were damaged
▪6k broadband connections were added in Chorus UFB areas (Q2 FY23: +3k)
▪1Gbps and Hyperfibre connections were 46% of net mass market fibre adds in Q3 (Q2 FY23: 36%)
▪Home Fibre Starter (50Mbps) connections grew 130% to 10k
>Copper broadband and voice connections declined by 21k (Q2 FY23: -29k)
▪voice only disconnections slowed to -5k (Q2 FY23: -10k)
▪total fixed line connections declined by 6k to 1,279,000* (Q2 FY23: -12k)
▪copper withdrawal: 330 copper broadband cabinets no longer have active customers (Q2 FY23: 268 cabinets)
>Average monthly data usage reduced slightly to 502GB in March (Dec: 512GB)
▪March data usage was notable for ongoing reductions in North Island areas affected by prior extreme weather events,
while December usage stats included the school holiday period
11 April 2023
Q3 FY23 overview
Total fibre connections increased by 15k to 1,012,000 (Q2 FY23: +17k)
Q3 FY23 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
*totals exclude ~6,000 broadband
connections Chorus is partly subsidising
for student households
2

>Total uptake of 72% within completed UFB footprint in Q3
vs 71% in Q2
▪uptake in UFB1 areas grew from 75.5% to 76%
▪uptake in UFB2 areas grew from 52% to 54%
▪968,000 connections (Q2 FY23: 954,000) now within
completed footprint (includes business premium and partly
subsidised education connections)
>19,000fibre installations completed in Q3 (Q2 FY23: 22k)
▪8k installations in March
▪WIP increased from 12k to 13k
▪customer satisfaction reduced from 7.8 to 7.6
50%
55%
60%
65%
70%
75%
80%
85%
AucklandDunedinWellington
UFB uptake by quarter
Mar-22Jun-22Sep-22Dec-22Mar-23
Uptake grew to 72% within completed UFB zone
Uptake
11 April 2023
Q3 FY23 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
▪Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin cover >70% of
UFB1 homes and businesses able to connect
▪94% of Chorus’ broadband connections in our UFB
zone are now on fibre
student
holidays
3

>Home Fibre Starter (50Mbps) connections grew 130% to 10k
>300Mbps plans account for 67% of residential connections and 1Gbps connections 24%
>1Gbps and Hyperfibreconnections were 46%of net mass market fibre adds in Q3, up from 36% in Q2
11 April 2023
Q3 FY23 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
Mass market fibre connections grew 16k
4
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
90,000
100,000
March 2022June 2022Sept 2022Dec 2022March 2023
Business
2Gbps+1Gbps500Mbps300Mbps200Mbps100Mbps<100MbpsVoice
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
800,000
900,000
1,000,000
March 2022June 2022Sept 2022Dec 2022March 2023
Residential
2Gbps+1Gbps300Mbps200Mbps100Mbps<100MbpsVoice

0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
31-Mar-2230-Jun-2230-Sep-2231-Dec-2231-Mar-23
11 April 2023
31 March
2022
30 June
2022
30 Sept
2022
31 Dec
2022
31 March
2023
Unbundled copper
(no broadband)
3,0001,0001,000not
material
not
material
Baseband copper
(no broadband)
112,000102,00094,00085,00080,000
Copper ADSL
(includes naked)
133,000122,000112,000102,00094,000
VDSL
(includes naked)
128,000118,000109,000100,00092,000
Fibre broadband
(GPON)
929,000949,000969,000986,0001,002,000
Data services
(copper)
2,0002,0001,0001,0001,000
Fibre premium
(P2P)
10,00010,00011,00011,00010,000
Total connections
1,317,0001,304,0001,297,0001,285,0001,279,000
Fibre (GPON)
VDSL
Copper ADSL
Baseband copper
Fibre comprises 79% of Chorus connections
>1,188,000 broadband connections comprises:
▪1,002,000 fibre (GPON) connections
▪186,000 VDSL/ADSL (copper) connections
Business premium
Note: ~6,000 partly subsidisededucation connections are excluded from this data
Q3 FY23 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
5

11 April 2023
Connection changes by Zone (indicative as at 31 March)
* Excludes ~6k partly subsidised education connections and 11k fibre premium and data services (copper) connections
6
3
6
4
7
-4
-2
-2
-3
-2
-2
-3
-3
-2
-2
-2
-6
-6
-8
-7
-2
-2
-1
-2
-1
-1
-2
-1
-2
-2
-10-50510
Q3 FY23
Q2 FY23
Q1 FY23
Q4 FY22
Q3 FY22
Q3 FY23
Q2 FY23
Q1 FY23
Q4 FY22
Q3 FY22
Q3 FY23
Q2 FY23
Q1 FY23
Q4 FY22
Q3 FY22
Broadband connections
Copper (no broadband) connections
Quarterly change (’000s) by zone*
Q3 FY23 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
Other fibre
company (LFC)
zone
Broadband connections27,000Local Fibre Company and fixed wireless provider
activity is driving a gradual decline in copper
connections.
Copper line (no broadband)15,000
TOTAL42,000
Non-UFB zoneBroadband connections134,000Cyclone impact on connections yet to be
determined. Ongoing gradual decline in copper
connections due to mobile/fixed wireless/satellite
footprint expansion. Partly offset by fibre
connections growth for greenfield developments.
Copper line (no broadband)24,000
TOTAL158,000
Chorus UFB zoneBroadband connections1,027,000Chorus copper withdrawal activity paused in
response to recent extreme weather events.
Copper line (no broadband)41,000
TOTAL1,068,000
6

11 April 2023
Copper withdrawal programme
Q3 FY23 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
7
>~22,000 initial withdrawal notifications issued
▪copper service ceased for ~15,000 notified connections
▪330 copper broadband cabinets now closed; withdrawal notices
issued across another 728
▪broadband retention rate of 88%across closed cabinets
>managed migration initiatives: activation of installed fibre
sockets (ONTs)
▪~7k sockets activated in Q3 (Q2 FY23: 10k)
▪50% of activations were offnet addresses (Q2 FY23: 46%)
330
728
1,900
Copper broadband cabinets –Chorus
UFB area
Closed
Notified
In service

Monthly average data usage on fibre 548gigabytes
>Monthly average data usage reduced slightly with the
end of school holidays and notable reductions in North
Island areas affected by recent weather events
▪548GBon fibre (Dec:555GB)
▪260GBon copper (Dec:308GB)
▪502GBaverage across all connections (Dec:512GB)
>Average peak throughput on our network at peak time
(~9pm) was consistent with December at 3.3Tbps
▪a single day peak of 3.76Tbps coincided with a
Fortnite update on 10 March after 10pm
11 April 2023
260
548
502
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 FY23 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
8