Q3 FY25 Connections Update

Q3 FY25
CONNECTIONS
U P DAT E

2
Q3 FY25 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
Q3 FY25 overview
>Fibre connections (including non-address points and LFC areas) increased 9k (Q2 FY25: +6k) to 1,107,000
•in Chorus fibre areas, an 8k increase in fibre broadband connections largely offset a 9k reduction in copper lines
•Home Fibre Starter (50Mbps) connections grew 9k to 77k with the majority of growth from new and offnet addresses
•1Gbps+ residential connections grew 2k and comprise 25% of residential plans
>Chorus’ fibre footprint now covers 1,525,000 addresses (excluding LFC areas)
•fibre passed another 5,000 addresses in Q3 (Q2: +6k), including fibre to ~900 existing homes in smaller communities
•uptake in UFB2 areas lifted from 60% to 61%
•overall fibre uptake grew 0.3% to 72% of passed addresses in Q3 (Q2: +0.1%)
•New Zealand is ranked 19
th
globally for fibre uptake, just behind Sweden and Japan
>Total fixed line connections* declined by 7k (Q2: -10k) and now total 1,214,000
•copper broadband connections declined by 10k (Q2: -10k) and copper voice connections declined 5k (Q2: -6k)
•copper lines in non-fibre areas declined by 5k (Q2: -6k) with 75k remaining
>Average monthly data usage on fibre was stable at 642GB (Dec:644GB)
•a Fortnite update drove new peak time traffic record of 5.4Tbps in February
•the proportion of terabyte users (i.e. consuming 1,000GB+ a month) was ~17% in March (Dec: 17.5%)
*includes ~2,000 broadband connections Chorus is subsidising for lower socio-economic households

3
Q3 FY25 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
31 Dec
2023
31 March
2024
30 June
2024
30 Sept
2024
31 Dec
2024
31 March
2025
Baseband
copper
(no broadband)
57,00051,00045,00040,00034,00029,000
Copper ADSL
(includes naked)
68,00062,00056,00049,00044,00039,000
VDSL
(includes naked)
68,00062,00055,00049,00044,00039,000
Data services
(copper)
1,0001,0001,0001,0001,000NM
Fibre broadband
(GPON)
1,052,0001,064,0001,074,0001,083,0001,089,0001,098,000
Fibre premium
(P2P)
10,00010,00010,0009,0009,0009,000
Total
connections*
1,256,0001,250,0001,241,0001,231,0001,221,0001,214,000
Copper connections
declined 16k in Q3 and
total 107k
Total fibre connections
grew 9k in Q3 and total
1,107k
*includes ~2,000 broadband connections Chorus is subsidising for lower socio-economic households
Fibre comprises 90% of Chorus connections

4
Q3 FY25 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
Fibre uptake reaches 72%
72% fibre uptake across 1,525,000
passed addresses*
•uptake grew +0.3% in Q3
•+8k fibre connections to addresses**
•+5k addresses passed in Q3, including
~900 addresses as part of Chorus’ fibre
expansion programme to smaller
communities
•13k installations in Q3 (Q2:14k)
•235k inactive fibre sockets (Q2: 233k)
70.4
70.6
70.8
71
71.2
71.4
71.6
71.8
72
72.2
0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
1,600,000
31-Mar-2430-Jun-2430-Sep-2431-Dec-2431-Mar-25
Fibre connectionsInactive fibre sockets***
Addresses passedFibre 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 31 March 2025
%

5
Q3 FY25 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
AucklandDunedinWellington
Uptake, by urban area,
for fibre passed addresses
Mar-24Jun-24Sep-24Dec-24Mar-25
•Auckland uptake was flat at 76.4% with address
growth continuing to outpace connection growth
•Dunedin uptake grew 1.6% to 76.4% reflecting
student seasonality
•Wellington uptake grew 0.3% to 70.8%

Note: uptake is measured across “urban areas” as defined by
Statistics NZ, rather than the original UFB rollout areas
Uptake (%)
Fibre uptake by city

6
Q3 FY25 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
Offnet demand drives majority of continued 50Mbps growth
•Home Fibre Starter (50Mbps) connections grew by net 9k connections to 77k; 66% of gross adds were from new fibre
connections or offnet (up 4% from Q2), 25% were from higher speed plans, and 9% from legacy 50Mbps plans
•1Gbps+ residential connections grew 2k and comprise 25% of residential plans
•business 500Mbps+ connections grew by 6k, driven by simplification of business plans
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
800,000
900,000
1,000,000
Mar-24Jun-24Sep-24Dec-24Mar-25
Residential
2Gbps+1Gbps300Mbps200Mbps100Mbps<100MbpsVoice
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
Mar-24Jun-24Sep-24Dec-24Mar-25
Business
2Gbps+1Gbps500Mbps300Mbps200Mbps100Mbps<100MbpsVoice
61%
25%32%
61%

7
Q3 FY25 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
Connection changes by zone* (indicative as at 31 March)
Other fibre
company (LFC)
zone
Copper lines (no broadband)6,000Local Fibre Company and fixed wireless provider
activity is driving a gradual decline in copper
connections.
Copper broadband lines7,000
Fibre broadband lines (GPON)4,000
TOTAL17,000
Non-fibre
addresses (i.e.
Chorus fibre not
available)
Copper lines (no broadband)14,000Ongoing decline in copper connections due to
mobile/fixed wireless/satellite footprint
expansion.
Copper broadband lines61,000
TOTAL75,000
Chorus fibre zoneCopper lines (no broadband)9,000Covers 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 lines10,000
Fibre broadband lines (GPON)1,091,000
TOTAL1,110,000
Quarterly change (’000s) by zone
-4
-3
-4
-3
-4
-1
-2
-1
-2
-1
-1
-1
-1
-5
-4
-6
-7
-8
-4
-4
-5
-5
-2
-1
-2
-2
-1
-2
8
6
9
9
12
1
-15-5515
Q3 FY25
Q2 FY25
Q1 FY25
Q4 FY24
Q3 FY24
Q3 FY25
Q2 FY25
Q1 FY25
Q4 FY24
Q3 FY24
Q3 FY25
Q2 FY25
Q1 FY25
Q4 FY24
Q3 FY24
Copper line onlyCopper broadband
Fibre broadband
* Excludes ~12k fibre premium and smart location connections

8
Q3 FY25 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
39% annual decline in copper lines: only 107k lines remain
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Copper voice
Copper broadband
Chorus fibre zone
LFC fibre zone
Non fibre zone
Copper connections able to be withdrawn with 6 months’
notice where fibre is available
Connections
(thousands)
>Chorus’ fibre zone:
•19k copper lines in service, with final ~4k lines to
receive withdrawal notice this month
•broadband retention rate steady at 80%
•1,771 copper broadband cabinets closed (Q2: 1,561)
>Non-fibre zones:
•just 75k copper lines remaining, down 24% in a year
•Chorus’ ~10k premises fibre rollout is reducing
copper further with 2.5k premises ready for service
and 700 connected to date (4.5k expressions of
interest)
>Deregulation of copper:
•Commerce Commission draft recommendation that
regulation of copper voice and broadband services is
no longer needed to promote competition
•final report due to Government by end of 2025

9
Q3 FY25 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
Data usage on fibre stable at 642GB in March
289
642
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
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
Dec-24
Mar-25
CopperFibre
Data
usage
(GB)
* includes upstream traffic
Monthly average data usage per connection*
•monthly average data usage on fibre was stable at
642GB in March vs 644GB in December
•the proportion of fibre connections using more than 1
terabyte of data was ~17% vs 17.5% in December
•copper usage was 289GB (Dec: 302GB)

10
Q3 FY25 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
Record peak time usage of 5.4Tbps in February
Average throughput in March, by time of day
Fortnite update drove new record peak in February

11
Q3 FY25 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
NZ ranked 19
th
globally for fibre uptake
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
FTTH/B uptake % by households
Source:
FTTH Council Europe, Sept 2024
%
uptake

---

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

Email: company.secretary@chorus.co.nz


STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT

15 April 2025

Q3 FY25 Connections Update

Chorus today released its connections update for the Q3 period to 31 March.


Final copper withdrawal notices to be issued in Chorus fibre areas

Chorus’ shift to a simpler all-fibre network continued with another 16,000 copper lines
disconnected nationwide in the quarter. This left about 107,000 copper lines in service on
31 March.

More than 1,700 copper broadband cabinets no longer have active customers and the
Forrest Hill exchange in Auckland has become the second major exchange to become
copper-free. Forrest Hill had more than 8,000 copper connections until the arrival of
Netflix streaming services in 2015 began to fuel the rapid adoption of fibre connections.

Just 19,000 copper lines remain in service in Chorus fibre areas, down from about 28,000
lines at the end of December. A final group of about 4,000 copper customers is due to
receive six months’ notice of copper service withdrawal this month. Chorus expects the
copper network in its fibre areas to be fully retired by mid-2026.


Deregulation proposed for copper services

In March the Commerce Commission released a draft recommendation that copper voice
and broadband services should be deregulated. They said the wide availability of
alternative technologies meant regulation of copper services was no longer needed to
promote competition. A final recommendation is due to Government by the end of 2025.

In areas where fibre is not available, Chorus saw about 5,000 copper customers choose
to migrate to alternative network options in the quarter. This leaves approximately
75,000 copper lines outside of the existing fibre footprint, down 24% from a year ago.

Chorus’ current programme to extend fibre to approximately 10,000 existing homes in
smaller communities is shrinking the copper footprint further. A bout 2,500 of these
premises now have fibre available with 4,500 expressions of interest received and 700
customers connected to date.

Fibre uptake reaches 72%

Total fibre connections increased by about 9,000 lines in the quarter to 1, 107,000. Fibre
uptake in UFB2 rollout areas, completed between 2018 and the end of 2022, rose from
60% to 61%. Fibre uptake across Chorus’ wider fibre network footprint, excluding other
local fibre company areas, lifted by 0.3% to 72%.

A recent global report on fibre uptake ranks New Zealand at 19
th
, just behind Sweden
and Japan.

Another 5,000 addresses were added to the network footprint in the quarter, largely from
new property developments. The majority of these were in Auckland, which meant
overall uptake in the city remained flat at 76.4% despite continued growth in
connections. Fibre uptake in Dunedin rebounded to 76.4% with the return of the student
population.

The combination of reducing demand for copper connections, partly offset by growth in
fibre connections, saw Chorus’ total fixed line connections reduce by 7,000 lines. This
was an improvement on a decline of 10,000 lines in the prior quarter.


50Mbps plan remains popular as offnet demand drives majority of growth

Chorus’ Home Fibre Starter 50Mbps plan remained popular in the challenging economic
environment. A net 9,000 connections were added to the plan in the quarter. About two-
thirds of gross adds on the plan were from new fibre connections or off-net addresses, up
4% from the prior quarter. A quarter of the gross adds were from higher speed plans and
the remainder from legacy 50Mbps plans.

Residential customers on 1Gbps or better grew by about 2,000 connections in the
quarter, while business connections on speeds of 500Mbps and above grew by 6,000
connections.

Chorus plans to upgrade the residential 50Mbps plan to 100Mbps download and the
300Mbps plan to 500Mbps download in June.


Record peak time usage in February

Chorus saw another peak time usage record set in February with a Fortnite upgrade
lifting overall network usage to 5.4Tbps in the evening. Data usage trends in March were
consistent with December. Average monthly data usage on fibre was stable at 642
gigabytes (GB) and the proportion of fibre users consuming more than 1,000GB, or 1
terabyte of data, was 17%.


Authorised by:

Drew Davies
Chief Operating 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