Enable’s $25m payout cements its role as a council cash cow

Friday, 3 October 2025

Enable’s fibre network has added more than 18,000 connections since 2022, but the pace of growth has slowed as the market nears saturation.

ANALYSIS: Christchurch’s fibre network, once a costly infrastructure project, is now delivering steady cash to the council and helping to ease pressure on rates.

Enable’s 2025 annual report shows a business that now behaves less like a tech start-up and more like a steady utility by pumping cash back to its owner.

It is the council-owned company that built and runs Christchurch’s fibre broadband network, and because it is owned through Christchurch City Holdings, its profits flow directly back to ratepayers.

Enable’s accounts show a $41.1 million profit from $119.2 million in revenue in the year to June 2025.

It returned $25m of that to Christchurch City Holdings Ltd (CCHL) as a dividend, with further payments in interest and tax transfers also flowing back to its council owner.

It is a marked shift from the early days, when Enable was sinking capital into building the fibre network.

It returned its first dividend ($18m) in 2021, and including this year, has now paid out $103m to CCHL. That is set to increase to $35m a year in 2028, according to its statement of intent.

With the infrastructure largely complete and more than 70% of Christchurch households on fibre, the company now looks and acts like a classic cash cow: high margins, stable cashflow, modest growth.

Enable’s $25m dividend in 2025 puts it close to the council’s biggest earners.

Christchurch Airport paid $37.6m in 2024, of which $28.2m went to CCHL, while Orion made a $24m profit in 2025 and also paid out $25m to its shareholders (Christchurch and Selwyn councils).

Across the CCHL group, the subsidiaries returned almost $93m in dividends to the holding company, which in turn passed $50.7m on to Christchurch City Council.

What this means for ratepayers

For households, the benefit is straightforward. Every dollar Enable pays out is a dollar the council does not need to find from rates or extra borrowing. That is why Enable’s steady cashflow matters: it helps hold down rate rises in a city facing tight finances.

However, Enable itself flags the risks that could dent its steady returns.

It has 161,583 connections and controls about 70% of the broadband market in Greater Christchurch.

That dominance means there is little room left to expand. The rest of the market is shared between fixed-wireless operators - mainly Spark and One NZ - who promote mobile-based broadband, and low-Earth orbit satellite providers such as Starlink, which target rural or hard-to-reach properties.

Those alternatives have carved out the remaining 30% of customers and represent the main source of competitive pressure.

Another risk is financial. Enable discloses that a 1% rise in interest rates could cut profits by about $2.8m.

With so much of its debt on floating rates via CCHL, its profitability - and therefore its dividend capacity - is exposed to the cost of borrowing. If rates stay high, ratepayers may see smaller payouts from their fibre company.

Enable’s performance looks especially strong next to some of CCHL’s other holdings. Lyttelton Port and Orion Energy tend to require heavy reinvestment. The airport is a consistent earner but carries global exposure to tourism cycles.

By 2025, Enable had 161,583 live connections — covering around 70% of households in Greater Christchurch.

Enable, by contrast, generates thick margins from a mature local monopoly. For the council, that makes it one of the safest bets in the stable, but unlike Orion or the airport, it is not viewed as a strategic asset. That raises the possibility it could be put on the block if CCHL looks to raise funds, for example to expand the port.

The limits of the cow

Like any cow, Enable cannot be milked indefinitely.

Interest and tax payments, along with dividends, show that Enable has become a conduit for cash to CCHL. That is good for ratepayers today, but there is a risk of leaning too hard on the asset and leaving little room for reinvestment.

The company’s customer satisfaction rating, at 75%, is decent but not stellar. Competition from wireless and satellite services is on the horizon.

Enable is no longer the story of fibre being rolled out street by street. It is the story of a city-owned utility that has matured into a reliable dividend payer.

For ratepayers, the key question is whether investing in Enable has paid off. On the numbers, the answer is yes. The fibre build was once seen as a costly gamble, but today it has become one of CCHL’s most reliable earners.