Chorus cranks up popular fibre plan speeds

From June customers on the Chorus fibre network who pay for a 300 Mbps plan will be able to download data at 500 Mbps at no extra charge.

The fibre company is increasing speeds on its most popular fibre plans without increasing wholesale prices. Chorus says retail service providers have agreed to pass the savings on to their customers.

This means more than 700,000 fibre accounts will get faster broadband at no extra cost.

Low-end speeds double

Customers on the company’s Fibre 50 plan, which includes the low-cost Home Fibre Starter plan, will see download speeds double from 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps.

This is substantially faster than the average download speeds on the nation’s 4G fixed wireless broadband services.

The latest Measuring Broadband New Zealand report published by the Commerce Commission notes 4G fixed wireless customers get an average of 35 Mbps during peak times, rising to 49 Mbps off peak.

Low end fibre upload speeds will also double, in this case from 10 to 20 Mbps.

Much faster than fixed wireless broadband

Speeds for customers on Home Fibre 300 plans will jump from 300 Mbps to 500 Mbps.

This is considerably faster than the best 5G fixed wireless broadband speeds clocked in the Measuring Broadband New Zealand report. MBNZ says 5G fixed wireless customers have speeds of 375 Mbps off peak, dropping to 356 Mbps as the network becomes congested in peak hours.

The download speed is also considerably faster than Starlink’s satellite broadband service where speeds cluster around the 200 Mbps mark.

Competition behind speed improvements

We’ve been here before. In 2021 Chorus upgraded its 100mbps lines to 300mbps lines at no additional cost to customers.

At the time Chorus made it clear the speed upgrade was to see off competition from fixed wireless broadband services offered by the three mobile carriers: Spark, One NZ and 2degrees.

While New Zealanders have enthusiastically taken to fibre broadband, fixed wireless plans come in at a lower price. The trade-off is a poorer experience, but that is a compromise many consumers seem to be prepared to live with. New Zealand has one of the world's highest uptakes of fixed wireless broadband.

Reliable performance

This time Chorus has a similar although more nuanced message. CEO Mark Aue says high-speed, reliable and uninterrupted broadband performance is expected of Kiwis’ internet experience and fibre is undoubtedly the best network to deliver this.

Chorus forecasts speed requirements and data use are set to accelerate. By increasing speeds now it can stay ahead of the demand and differentiate fibre from alternative broadband technologies.

Tū Ātea to build first NZ private 5G network for Centreport

Māori-run communications provider Tū Ātea Limited is building a private 5G network for CentrePort. The Wellington waterside facility expects the network to go live in the third quarter of this year.

Tū Ātea will use network slicing. This is where a single physical 5G network is divided into a series of virtual wireless networks each with its own dedicated bandwidth. Slices are secure from each other and can be configured and customised specifically for a single customer’s requirements.

CentrePort will operate a series of 5G high-power radio transceivers and antennas on its existing light-pole infrastructure. The sites connect via fibre to Tū Ātea’s Converged Packet Core.

Network slicing makes a difference

Tū Ātea’s CEO Antony Royal says network slicing offers dedicated wireless capacity for mission-critical operations.

In particular it means CentrePort will no longer face public mobile network congestion. Tū Ātea has its own 3500 MHz spectrum along with some 2300 MHz and 2100 MHz. Royal says this is plenty of spectrum for the port and “throughput depends on the amount of spectrum allocated and how it is configured”.

Ports are notoriously tricky places for network coverage. Anthony Delaney, CentrePort CEO, says large ships and container stacks can block radio signals. “This private 5G network will be optimised to overcome that and will underpin converged smart network features we are planning.”

Tū Ātea growing

In 2023, Tū Ātea, which originates from the Interim Māori Spectrum Commission, acquired the Broadtech Group. This is now renamed Tū Ātea Network Services.

Royal says: “With our spectrum resources, technology and expertise, we see this as an opportunity to partner with existing mobile network operators to bolster their offerings in the enterprise space”.

He says Tū Ātea is exploring other potential use cases for its technology and singled out health and safety as a priority.

Tuanz Rural Connectivity Symposium evolves into Connecting Aotearoa Summit

After a decade of focusing exclusively on New Zealand’s rural telecommunications sector, Tuanz has expanded the scope of its Rural Connectivity Symposium. From this year the event will become the Connecting Aotearoa Summit.

The underlying theme remains the same: exploring ways to ensure everyone in New Zealand can connect to fast, affordable telecommunications services.

Tuanz CEO Craig Young says the expanded summit: “...will bring together industry leaders, policymakers and advocates to explore solutions that ensure no one is left behind in our digital future.”

He says no one should miss out on the opportunities and that engagement with digital technology must be safe, inclusive and available to all. So the question at this year’s summit will be: “Why can’t we have 100% of New Zealanders connected”?

This year’s conference is on May 21 in Hamilton. Chorus will be the event sponsor. The key themes will be bridging the digital divide, the cost barriers and digital equity.

One New Zealand extends Satellite TXT to iPhone

One New Zealand says Apple iPhone 14 or later users can now use Satellite TXT. Customers with certain Pay Monthly plans get access to the company’s off-net satellite based SMS service at no extra charge.

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