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Chorus has today provided an update on the progress that has been made on the fibre installation experience, and also announced it has completed 100,000 mass market fibre connections.

 “Demand for fibre continues to be extremely high and addressing these challenges remains mine and Chorus’ number one priority. Meaningful progress has been made during the last few months, both within Chorus and in collaboration with our industry partners,” said Chorus CEO Mark Ratcliffe.

 “I would like to acknowledge the highly-collaborative way that our customers have approached working through changes in the end-to-end experience.”

 In May, Chorus announced the company was taking a number of steps to improve the fibre installation experience, asthe demand for fibre became mainstream.

 The changes include increasing the number of fibre crews, taking greater ownership of fibre forecasting and establishing a new contact centre to confirm appointments and ensure customers have the full picture of what to expect during an installation.

 Chorus has also launched a higher level of service for business connections, to ensure smoother installation experiences and faster resolution if something goes wrong.

 Asa result of the progress made, Chorus built about 8000 new fibre connections nationwide in November, compared to about 6000 in September. This is the highest number of connections Chorus has completed in a month.

 This has meant the median time to connect for single dwelling units and multi-dwelling units has reduced, and cancellation rates have also dropped significantly.

 “One of our biggest challenges is recruiting people quickly enough to meet the ever-growing demand for fibre, and training them to deliver installations that are very much ascomplex asadding any other utility to a property.

“It takes between three and six months to train a new fibre technician, asit requires a wide range of skills.  It then takes another six months for the technician to become fully competentand productive.

“Asdemand looks set to grow even further, we will continue to recruit and train asfast aswe possibly can.

“While I am pleased with the progress that has been made with our overall changes, clearly there is still more work to be done before New Zealanders’ experience meet expectations.

 “There will be no let-up in focus from Chorus until we are consistently meeting demand and delivering a high-quality experience.”

 ENDS

For further information:


Nathan Beaumont

Stakeholder Communications Manager

Mobile: +64 (21) 243 8412

Email:  Nathan.beaumont@chorus.co.nz

Brett Jackson

Investor Relations Manager

Mobile: +64 (27) 488 7808

Email: brett.jackson@chorus.co.nz  

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