Download Weekly: Chorus cuts wholesale fibre price

A gigabit plan now costs less

Chorus has cut prices internet service providers will pay for Gigabit fibre plans. It has also postponed the annual regulated price increase and reduced the price of small business fibre.

From July the wholesale price of a gigabit fibre line will drop from $60 to $56 a month. Chorus CEO JB Rousselot says the value of gigabit plans was seen during the lockdown. They are "...the ideal connection for families who may have multiple people working or learning from home all at the same time."

The regulated wholesale price of a 100Mbps connection was set to rise from $46 to $47.15. Chorus says this has been delayed until October. The lower prices will deliver savings of around $10 million to service providers. Small business fibre plans will reduce by $3 a month to $52 from July.

Any decision to pass savings on to customers lies with the service providers.

Relief for service providers

Rousselot also says Chorus has created a $2 million fund to provide relief for those service providers who chose not to cut off customers during the lockdown.

He says; “We support the decision some RSPs made not to cut off customers during the lockdown, which in some cases has seen customers’ debt to them grow, potentially resulting in higher than usual rates of non-payment.

“We have said throughout that Chorus will play its part in supporting RSPs that faced the risk of higher bad debt due to the lockdown. The fund represents an estimate of the increased risk of bad debts experienced by the industry, for the period of the lockdown, based on feedback from retailers and other industry analysis."

Waiheke gets second submarine fibre cable.

Chorus has begun work on a second submarine fibre cable linking Waiheke Island to the mainland. The new $3.4 million cable will run six kilometres from Maraetai Beach to Woodside Bay on Waiheke Island.

The cable will increase data capacity to the island while increasing resilience with by using a second route. It will be used for voice and data traffic and will also backhaul mobile network traffic.

Chorus says it will take around ten days to complete the cable. The network company has partnered with Visionstream and Seaworks, Wellington-based specialist marine vessel operator, to build the new link.

The cable should serve for at least 30 years.

Keeping a backup cable

At present, Chorus leases capacity on the existing single cable to the island. It plans to move all its Waiheke traffic over to the new cable when it comes online. The leased cable will remain as a backup.

Currently Chorus leases capacity on a single cable to the Island. When the new cable is operational all traffic to and from the Island will migrate across. However, the leased capacity will remain and offer diversity in the event of a fault on the new cable.

Chorus CEO, JB Rousselot, says “The new subsea, fibre-optic cable connecting Waiheke Island to the world means that the 56 percent who have already taken advantage of fibre to their homes and businesses can be assured that Chorus’ fibre infrastructure can support exponential growth in usage.

“We’re now more than ready to welcome the remaining 44 percent to join their neighbours in having access to the best broadband in the world and truly delighted to see this critical infrastructure, which has been on the cards for some years, come to fruition.”

Hawaiki upgrades US mainland point of interconnect

Hawaiki says it has upgraded its Oregon point of interconnect to provide a more efficient and cost-effective link from Hawaii to the US mainland. The trans-Pacific submarine cable company is using multi-span trunk switching equipment from Ciena.

The upgrade will give customers improved reliability and availability along with lower latency. Now Hawaiki says it plans a major capacity upgrade to cope with customers’ growing requirements, including the spike in demand triggered during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Funding helps NCEA move exams online

Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced the government will spend $38.7 million NCEA online exams. There's been an increase in students taking exams online. It's been popular with 97 percent of those students taking exams online saying it was a positive experience.

This year the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) plans to offer 58 NCEA digital exams across 21 subjects, at NCEA Levels 1, 2 and 3. That's two thirds of all NCEA exams. Last year 35 exams were offered online.

Spark to close WeDo trades site

Writing at the New Zealand Herald Chris Keall reports Spark is closing WeDo, a site that puts customers in touch with tradespeople. While there has been no official announcement, Spark sent a message to customers about the closure. The closure follows Spark's move away from other non-core businesses. Earlier this year it sold Lightbox to Sky and last year it sold its security business Morepork to ADT.