Chorus announces plan to take fibre to 10,000 more premises

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

Email: company.secretary@chorus.co.nz






STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT

5 February 2024

Chorus announces plan to take fibre to 10,000 more premises

Chorus has today submitted an update to the Commerce Commission regarding its
proposed fibre network expansion investment for its second regulatory period, January
2025 to December 2028.

The company has confirmed its plans to extend fibre broadband to another 10,000
premises at a cost of about $40 million, with approximately a third of this investment
to occur in the next regulatory period. This cost excludes connecting fibre from the
premises boundary to the building, which is subject to demand.

Chorus CEO JB Rousselot said the 10,000 premises are on the fringes of Chorus'
existing fibre network and represent commercially feasible areas for fibre network
deployment under current regulatory and policy settings. About 60% of the premises to
be passed are not connected to Chorus' copper network today.

Chorus expects the fibre deployment to the 10,000 premises to be completed in FY25.
The initial deployment areas will be announced in the next few weeks.

"Customers value fibre above other technologies as it offers fast, reliable, and resilient
service," said Rousselot.

"The new areas we propose to build to include suburbs and communities just outside
our existing fibre footprint and places like Milford Sound, where we've just completed a
government-funded backhaul link into the township.

"We've revised our regulatory proposal to reflect the confirmation of the 10,000
premises and the reduced amount of investment that falls within the new regulatory
period. This change leaves approximately $200 million of investment that would be
required to unlock significant socio-economic benefits for about another 30,000
premises. We’ll continue to investigate ways that we can extend our fibre footprint
further, but this discretionary investment remains contingent on pricing, market and
regulatory developments.

"In the absence of current clarity on the conditions for that investment, we've removed
approximately $200m from our main proposal and would instead include it in a
separate individual capital expenditure proposal if and when the conditions to support
such investment are satisfied."

Chorus' total capital expenditure proposal for the 2025 to 2028 regulatory period is now
approximately $1.3 billion (nominal) as a result of this update, down from the
previously proposed $1.5 billion



Authorised by:

JB Rousselot
Chief Executive 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