First copper phone services to be cut from September under Chorus plan

Monday, 22 February 2021

September will mark the beginning of the end for the copper phone and broadband network.

Chorus plans to start shutting down its copper phone and broadband network from September, meaning customers will need to switch to alternatives such as ultrafast broadband or wireless technology.

The closures will begin on a small scale.

Fewer than 5000 customers – less than 1 per cent of all the customers still on the copper network – would find their service withdrawn by the end of this year, in what the company described as a trial.

Chorus chief executive Jean-Baptiste Rousselot said that outside of those “limited initial trial areas” no-one should feel under any pressure to move off copper.

While Chorus plans the start of the withdrawal of copper services, Vodafone NZ is stepping up its bid to persuade more customers on to ‘fixed wireless’ alternatives with the launch of new 5G-based plans.

* Chorus investors in the money but CEO fears they won't feel rewarded

* Chorus ropes in MPs in clash with Spark over broadband advice

Chorus is obliged to give customers six months notice that their service will be withdrawn, under a code approved by the Commerce Commission.

Rousselot said that would give people “plenty of time to make choices suitable for them”.

The first copper cabinets would not be switched off until September at the earliest, he said.

Chorus will begin the switch-off in urban areas where the take-up of fibre-optic ultrafast broadband (UFB) is already high.

The UFB network is designed to provide far better connectivity than copper and should be available in 405 cities and towns by the end of 2022, covering 87 per cent of the population.

Spark and Vodafone NZ have been encouraging more customers to switch to wireless home broadband and phone services that run off their mobile networks.

Vodafone stepped up its ‘fixed wireless’ offering on Monday, launching new faster plans in the parts of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown covered by its 5G network.

Its 5G fixed wireless service offers “unlimited” data for $79 a month, though Vodafone says that is subject to a “fair use” clause.

The clause allows the company to limit or even withdraw the service, after warnings, if it deems customers’ usage “excessive or unreasonable”.

Chorus announced the likely start date for the withdrawal of its copper service at the same time as releasing its financial results for the six months to the end of December.

It reported a drop in its interim profit to $24m, from $31m in the same period in 2019.

It said that largely reflected the loss of customers who switched from copper to UFB in those parts of the country where other companies are building the UFB network, which includes Christchurch and Hamilton.

Chorus shares fell 1.2 per cent to $7.95 in early trading on the NZX in the wake of the result.