Q1 FY25 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 October 2024


Q1 FY25 Connections Update

Chorus today released its connections update for the Q1 period to 30 September.

Birkdale becomes Chorus’ first fibre-only exchange

Chorus’ retirement of the copper network marked a new milestone in the quarter with
Birkdale exchange in Auckland becoming the first fibre-only exchange. When the fibre
rollout began in 2011, Birkdale had approximately 7,000 copper connections.

In areas where Chorus fibre is available, service withdrawal notices have been issued for
approximately 90,000 copper connections so far. About 35,000 copper lines remain in
service in Chorus fibre areas.

When including copper disconnections outside of Chorus fibre areas, where customers
choose alternative network options, about 18,000 copper lines were disconnected
nationwide in the quarter. This left about 139,000 copper lines in service nationwide on
30 September. This trend drove an overall reduction in Chorus’ fixed line connections
from 1,241,000 to 1,231,000 connections in the quarter.

Fibre uptake lifts to 71.6%

Chorus’ fibre network footprint, excluding other local fibre company areas, grew by 7,000
addresses in the quarter to 1,514,000 addresses. Fibre uptake within this footprint lifted
by 0.2% to 71.6%. Uptake in UFB2 rollout areas increased from 58% to 59%. The
Auckland area is at 76.7% uptake, compared to Dunedin on 76.4% and Wellington on
70.6%.

Total fibre connections increased by 8,000 in the quarter. Mass market fibre connections
grew by 9,000 in Chorus fibre areas, while point-to-point fibre premium connections
reduced by about 1,000 lines as a legacy technology platform is withdrawn from service.

Strong demand continued for the entry level 50Mbps Home Fibre Starter service with
another 10,000 connections added. Business and residential consumers on speeds of
500Mbps and above grew by about 6,000 connections. More than 25% of residential
connections are on speeds of 1Gbps and above.

Demand for multi-gigabit Hyperfibre connections accelerated in the quarter with more
retailers promoting the service. Residential customers now comprise 81% of the more
than 4,000 Hyperfibre connections.

Average monthly data usage on fibre reduced slightly from 623 gigabytes in June to
609GB. The proportion of fibre users consuming more than 1 terabyte of data was 15%.

Authorised by:

Katrina Smidt
Acting Chief Financial Officer

ENDS


For further information:

Vicki Gan
Media and Content Manager
Phone +64 22 075 0159
Email: Vicki.Gan@chorus.co.nz

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

---

1
Q1 FY25 connections update
11 October 2024

2
>Fibre connections (including non-address points and LFC areas) increased 8k (Q4 FY24: +10k) to 1,092,000
▪in Chorus fibre areas, a 9k increase in fibre broadband connections offset a 6k reduction in copper broadband
▪Home Fibre Starter (50Mbps) connections grew 10k to 57k
▪fibre connections of 500Mbps+ grew by 6k across residential and business plans
▪fibre premium (P2P) connections reduced to 9k as legacy services are withdrawn
>Chorus’ fibre footprint now covers 1,514,000 addresses (excluding LFC areas)
▪fibre passed another 7,000 addresses in Q1 (Q4: +7k)
▪overall fibre uptake grew 0.2% to 71.6% of passed addresses in Q1 (Q4: +0.4%)
▪uptake in UFB2 areas lifted from 58% to 59%
>Total fixed line connections* declined by 10k (Q4: -9k) and now total 1,231,000
▪copper broadband and voice connections declined by 18k (Q4: -19k)
▪copper voice only disconnections were 5k (Q4: -6k)
▪Birkdale in Auckland is the first exchange area to have all copper lines withdrawn
▪1,492 copper broadband cabinets no longer have active customers (Q4:1,253)
>Average monthly data usage on fibre was down slightly to 609GB (June:623GB)
▪the proportion of terabyte users (i.e. consuming 1,000GB+ a month) was 15% (June:16%)
Q1 FY25 overview
*includes ~2,000 broadband connections Chorus is subsidising for lower socio-economic households
2
11 October 2024

3
30 Sept
2023
31 Dec
2023
31 March
2024
30 June
2024
30 Sept
2024
Baseband copper
(no broadband)
64,00057,00051,00045,00040,000
Copper ADSL
(includes naked)
75,00068,00062,00056,00049,000
VDSL
(includes naked)
75,00068,00062,00055,00049,000
Data services
(copper)
1,0001,0001,0001,0001,000
Fibre broadband
(GPON)
1,041,0001,052,0001,064,0001,074,0001,083,000
Fibre premium
(P2P)
10,00010,00010,00010,0009,000
Total
connections*
1,266,0001,256,0001,250,0001,241,0001,231,000
Fibre comprises 89% of Chorus connections
▪Copper connections declined 18k
(~11%) in Q1 and total 139k
▪Total fibre connections grew 8k
(~1%) in Q1 and total 1,092k
*includes ~2,000 broadband connections Chorus is subsidising for lower socio-economic households
3
11 October 2024

4
69.5
70.0
70.5
71.0
71.5
72.0
0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
1,600,000
30-Sep-2330-Dec-2331-Mar-2430-Jun-2430-Sep-24
Fibre connectedInactive fibre sockets***
Fibre socket not yet installedFibre uptake (%)
*based on independent address data and Chorus network data for addresses passed by fibre; excludes Chorus fibre in Local Fibre Company (LFC) areas
** includes ~7k fibre premium connections to addresses; excludes smart location (GPON) connections and connections in LFC areas
*** not active on 30 September 2024
▪71.6% fibre uptake across 1,514,000
passed addresses*
ouptake +0.2% in Q1
o+9k fibre connections to addresses**
o+7k addresses passed in Q1
▪1,309,000 fibre installed addresses
o17k installations in Q1 (Q4:20k)
o205,000 addresses passed by fibre, but
fibre socket not yet installed (Q4:214k)
Fibre uptake grew 0.2% to 71.6%
4
11 October 2024

5
>Uptake is measured across “urban areas” as defined
by Statistics NZ, rather than the original UFB rollout
area
▪Auckland uptake grew 0.1% to 76.7% in Q1
despite ongoing address growth
▪Dunedin uptake reduced 0.1% to 76.4% as
address growth outpaced connection growth
▪Wellington uptake reduced 0.1% to 70.6% as
address growth outpaced connection growth
Uptake by city
60
62
64
66
68
70
72
74
76
78
80
AucklandDunedinWellington
Uptake, by urban area, for fibre passed addresses
Sep-23Dec-23Mar-24Jun-24Sep-24
Uptake (%)
5
11 October 2024

▪Home Fibre Starter (50Mbps) connections grew by 10k to 57k; plans below 300Mbps are 12% of residential connections
▪business and residential connections of 500Mbps+ grew by 6k
▪81% of business connections are on 500Mbps or faster; 25% of residential plans are on 1Gbps or faster
▪Hyperfibre connections of 2Gbps and above grew to more than 4k with ~81% on residential plans
6
-
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
800,000
900,000
1,000,000
Sep-23Dec-23Mar-24Jun-24Sep-24
Residential
2Gbps+1Gbps500Mbps300Mbps
200Mbps100Mbps<100MbpsVoice
Sep-23Dec-23Mar-24Jun-24Sep-24
Business
2Gbps+1Gbps500Mbps300Mbps
200Mbps100Mbps<100MbpsVoice
Hyperfibre lifts to over 4k connections
6
11 October 2024

7
Connection changes by Zone (indicative as at 30 Sept*)
Other fibre
company (LFC)
zone
Copper lines (no broadband)7,000
Local Fibre Company and fixed wireless provider
activity is driving a gradual decline in copper
connections.
Copper broadband lines10,000
Fibre broadband lines (GPON)4,000
TOTAL21,000
Non-fibre
addresses (i.e.
Chorus fibre not
available)
Copper lines (no broadband)17,000Ongoing decline in copper connections due to
mobile/fixed wireless/satellite footprint
expansion.
Copper broadband lines69,000
TOTAL86,000
Chorus fibre zoneCopper lines (no broadband)16,000Covers all addresses outside of LFC UFB rollout
zone where Chorus fibre is available. Fibre
footprint is growing as a result of new property
development. Copper connections are reducing
as Chorus retires its copper network.
Copper broadband lines19,000
Fibre broadband lines (GPON)1,077,000
TOTAL1,112,000
-4
-3
-4
-4
-1
-2
-1
-1
-1
-1
-2
-6
-7
-8
-8
-5
-5
-2
-4
-2
-1
-2
-2
9
9
12
11
1
-15-5515
Q1 FY25
Q4 FY24
Q3 FY24
Q2 FY24
Q1 FY25
Q4 FY24
Q3 FY24
Q2 FY24
Q1 FY25
Q4 FY24
Q3 FY24
Q2 FY24
Copper line onlyCopper broadband
Fibre broadband
* Excludes ~12k fibre premium, data services (copper) and smart location connections
Quarterly change (’000s) by zone
7
11 October 2024
11 October 2024

8
35k copper lines remaining in Chorus fibre areas
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Copper voice
Copper broadband
Chorus fibre zone
LFC fibre zone
Non fibre zone
>~90,000 copper withdrawal notifications
issued (cumulative) in Chorus fibre areas
▪~35k connections remaining
▪1,492 copper broadband cabinets closed (Q4:
1,253); another 972 under closure notice
▪broadband retention rate of 79% across
closed cabinets
>managed migration initiatives: activation of
installed fibre sockets (ONTs)
▪~6k sockets activated in Q1 (Q4:~6k)
▪58% of activations were offnet addresses
(Q4:59%)
Copper connections able to be withdrawn with 6 months’
notice where fibre is available
Connections
(thousands)
8
11 October 2024

9
273
609
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Jun-20
Sep-20
Dec-20
Mar-21
Jun-21
Sep-21
Dec-21
Mar-22
Jun-22
Sep-22
Dec-22
Mar-23
Jun-23
Sep-23
Dec-23
Mar-24
Jun-24
Sep-24
CopperFibre
▪monthly average data usage on fibre reduced slightly
from 623GB in June to 609GB,
▪the proportion of fibre connections using more than 1
terabyte of data was 15%
▪copper usage was 273GB (June: 284GB)


Data
usage
(GB)
* includes upstream traffic
Monthly average data usage on fibre 609 gigabytes
Monthly average data usage per connection*
9
11 October 2024

Fibre plan - consumerCurrent wholesale price Price from 1 Jan 2025Notes
Voice line$29.11$30.59
Home starter 50/10Mbps$35$38
To apply where retail price is $65.
Wholesale price was previously reduced to
$35 from 1 Feb 2022
50/10Mbps$50.43$53.96
100/20Mbps
300/100Mbps
$53.54$56.28
100Mbps is anchor service.
1Gbps $61.86$66.19
Hyperfibre 2Gbps$70$74.90
Hyperfibre 4Gbps$85$90.95
Hyperfibre 8Gbps$110$117.70
Copper pricingCurrent wholesale price Price before 16 Dec 2023 Notes
Copper line$38.21$36.17
Annual CPI adjustment mid-December
2024
Copper broadband$51.08$48.35
Pricing update
10
11 October 2024