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CHORUS LIMITED Interim / Quarterly Report 2021

Apr 14, 2021

64680_rns_2021-04-14_3371839b-8d08-4dfb-b3a6-d259c121c603.pdf

Interim / Quarterly Report

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

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Email: [email protected]

STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT

15 April 2021

Q3 FY21 overview

Total fixed line connections declined by 13k to 1,356,000*

Copper broadband and voice connections declined by 42k (Q2 FY21: -50k; Q3 FY20: -44k)

  • fixed wireless providers are continuing inertia selling campaigns to their fixed line customers

  • 2degrees has begun promoting fixed wireless

  • Vodafone introduced new $40 4G fixed wireless plan with 60GB data

Total broadband connections declined by 2k to 1,181,000 * (Q2 FY21: -10k; Q3 FY20: -4k)

  • return of students from holidays helped restore some prior period disconnections

  • COVID-19 impact on net migration and population growth continues to constrain broadband growth

Fibre broadband connections increased by 29k (Q2 FY21: +29k; Q3 FY20: +32k)

  • 1Gbps consumer connections increased 7k

  • fibre uptake across the completed UFB footprint grew from 63% to 64%, with Chorus’ managed migrations programme adding another 7k activations

  • average monthly data usage on fibre increased to 491GB, up from 460GB in Dec (including upstream traffic)

  • Sky TV began promoting fibre broadband to its existing customer base towards the end of Q3

*totals exclude the 11,000 broadband connections Chorus is currently providing free to student households

Authorised by: JB Rousselot Chief Executive Officer

ENDS

For further information:

Steve Pettigrew Head of External Communications Mobile +64 (27) 258 6257 Email: [email protected]

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Brett Jackson Investor Relations Manager Phone: +64 4 896 4039 Mobile: +64 (27) 488 7808 Email: [email protected]

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Q3 FY21 Connections Update
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Q3 FY21 CONNECTIONS UPDATE

15 April 2021

Q3 FY21 overview

Total fixed line connections declined by 13k to 1,356,000* (Q2 FY21: -21k)

> Copper broadband and voice connections declined by 42k (Q2 FY21: -50k; Q3 FY20: -44k)

  • fixed wireless providers are continuing inertia selling campaigns to their fixed line customers

  • 2degrees has begun promoting fixed wireless

  • Vodafone introduced new $40 4G fixed wireless plan with 60GB data

  • Total broadband connections declined by 2k to 1,181,000 * (Q2 FY21: -10k; Q3 FY20: -4k)

  • return of students from holidays helped restore some prior period disconnections

  • COVID-19 impact on net migration and population growth continues to constrain broadband growth

> Fibre broadband connections increased by 29k (Q2 FY21: +29k; Q3 FY20: +32k)

  • 1Gbps consumer connections increased 7k

  • fibre uptake across the completed UFB footprint grew from 63% to 64%, with Chorus’ managed migrations programme adding another 7k activations

  • average monthly data usage on fibre increased to 491GB, up from 460GB in Dec (including upstream traffic)

  • Sky TV began promoting fibre broadband to its existing customer base towards the end of Q3

*totals exclude ~11,000 broadband connections Chorus is currently providing free to student households

2

Connection changes by Zone (indicative)

  • Chorus UFB zone: return to broadband growth reflects return of students and premises growth, while fixed wireless providers continued inertia selling campaigns targeting copper voice and broadband customers

  • LFC zone : disconnections continue at consistent rate reflecting Local Fibre Company and fixed wireless provider activity

  • Non-UFB zone : increasing rural wireless competition as mobile providers expand wireless coverage and capacity

Chorus UFB
zone*
Non-UFB
zone
Local Fibre
Company
UFB zone
Total connections at
31 March**
1,074,000 188,000 80,000
Broadband connections 980,000 151,000 50,000
Copper (no broadband)
connections
94,000 37,000 30,000
  • Includes planned Chorus UFB1, 2 and 2+ coverage

  • **Excludes 14k fibre premium and data services (copper) connections

Change in connections (‘000s) by zone**

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-15 -5 5 15
LFC
Q3 FY20 -2 -8 Zone
Q4 FY20 -2 -4
Q1 FY21 -2 -9
Q2 FY21 -3 -6
Q3 FY21 -2 -6
Non-
Q3 FY20 -11
Q4 FY20 -1 UFB
Q1 FY21 -1-2 Zone
Q2 FY21 -1
Q3 FY21 -1-2
Q3 FY20 -5 3
Chorus
Q4 FY20 -5 8
Q1 FY21 -8 -2 UFB Zone
Q2 FY21 -7 -4
Q3 FY21 -8 6
Broadband connections
Copper (no broadband) connections
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3

Fibre comprises 62% of Chorus connections

31 March 30 June 30 Sept 31 Dec 31 March
2020 2020 2020 2020 2021 1,400,000 Baseband copper
Unbundled copper
(no broadband)
17,000 15,000 14,000 13,000 11,000 1,200,000 Unbundled copper
Baseband copper
(no broadband)
185,000 179,000 169,000 159,000 150,000 1,000,000 Copper ADSL
Copper ADSL 261,000 245,000 218,000 197,000 180,000
(includes naked) 800,000 VDSL
VDSL 228,000 221,000 202,000 184,000 170,000
(includes naked)
Fibre broadband 713,000 740,000 773,000 802,000 831,000 600,000
(GPON)
Data services 4,000 4,000 3,000 3,000 3,000 400,000
(copper) Fibre (GPON)
Fibre premium
(P2P)
11,000 11,000 11,000 11,000 11,000 200,000
Total connections 1,419,000 1,415,000 1,390,000 1,369,000 1,356,000 0 ~~Business premium~~
31-Mar-20
30-Jun-20
30-Sep-20 31-Dec-20 31-Mar-21

> 1,181,000 broadband connections comprises:

  • 831,000 fibre (GPON) connections

  • 350,000 VDSL/ADSL (copper) connections

Note : 11,000 free education connections are excluded from this data

4

Consumer 1Gbps uptake grew by 7k connections

Total mass market fibre uptake by plan type

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100
Business/Education plans
1Gbps $60 p.m. $56 p.m.
90 from 1 July
80 200Mbps $55 p.m. $56.38 p.m.
from 1 Oct
70
60 100Mbps $46 p.m. $47.15 p.m.
from 1 Oct
% of
plans 50
40
30
20
10
50Mbps $42.50 p.m. $43.56 p.m.
from 1 Oct
0
Mar-20 Jun-20 Sep-20 Dec-20 Mar-21
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29,000 mass market fibre connections added

  • Consumer 1Gbps connections grew from 136k to 143k and comprise 17% of GPON connections

  • small business connections grew from 11k to 24k

  • 50Mbps connections are declining and now comprise ~10% of GPON connections

5

UFB uptake reaches 64%

  • UFB uptake increased from 63% to 64% within completed footprint in Q3*

  • uptake in UFB1 areas grew from 66% to 68%

  • uptake in UFB2 areas grew from 39% to 40%

  • 810,000 connections (Q2: 783,000) now within completed footprint, including business premium connections

  • 1,268,000 customers able to connect (Q2: 1,246,000)

  • 986,000 premises passed** (Q2: 966,000) out of 1,054,000 target = UFB rollout 94% complete

  • (note: data includes some UFB2 areas that have been partially built, but not yet submitted for Crown sign-off)

> 40,000 fibre installations completed in Q3 (Q2: 44k)

  • customer satisfaction steady at 8.2

  • WIP steady at ~15k

  • field crews reduced from 689 to 657

  • includes ~3k free education connections

Fibre now 82% of Chorus broadband connections in planned UFB zone

No. of

connections

1,000,000 900,000 800,000 700,000 600,000 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000

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0

Dec-19 Mar-20 Jun-20 Sep-20 Dec-20 Mar-21 ADSL VDSL Fibre

**under the UFB contract, a multi-dwelling unit or single office block is one premises

6

UFB1 uptake: 68%

% uptake relative to capable addresses

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80.00%
Mar-20 Jun-20 Sep-20 Dec-20 Mar-21
70.00%
Average uptake
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
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7

Managed migration activity lifts fibre connections

13k installations completed in Q3

  • managed migration installations (i.e. ONT only without active service) reduced in Q3 due to summer holiday period

  • 7k ONT activations

  • 3k of activations were at offnet addresses

Managed migration programme

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16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
Q3 FY20 Q4 FY20 Q1 FY21 Q2 FY21 Q3 FY21
Installations Connections
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8

Monthly average data usage on fibre 491 gigabytes

Monthly average data usage per connection on our network*

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500 491
450
416
400
350
300
Data
241
250
usage
(GB) 200
150
100
50
Copper Fibre Average
0
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  • monthly average data usage per connection on our network grew to 416GB in March, up from 390GB (Dec) ▪ 491GB on fibre (Dec:460GB)

  • 241GB on copper (Dec:241GB)

  • Average peak throughput on our network at peak time (~9pm) was 2.75Tbps, up from 2.44Tbps in December 2019

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  • includes upstream traffic from June 2020 onwards

9

Commission report: fibre leads for low latency

  • The Commerce Commission’s Measuring Broadband New Zealand , Summer Report (April 2021) shows fixed line services outperform fixed wireless significantly on key measures such as download speeds and latency

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Source: Commerce Commission
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10 15 April 2021 Q3 FY21 CONNECTIONS UPDATE
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