As we near the end of the first phase of the Ultra-Fast Broadband roll-out there is much to celebrate. Fibre uptake is at 55 percent in Chorus areas, shattering the 2011 target of 20 percent uptake by 2020. We’re also making good progress in getting fibre to many of the 300 or so towns included as part of the UFB2 extension.

With fibre now a proven mainstream technology that meets the needs of our increasingly connected and streaming lives, we’re keen to work with you to explore strategies that will encourage the remaining 45 percent to connect to fibre.

What's happening

Over the last two years we’ve learned much from our experience with both service providers and Chorus-led managed migrations in better understanding copper consumers’ barriers to connecting to fibre. Main reasons are: 

• apprehension about the work required for the installation
• worries about existing services, like security or medical alert alarms, and their compatibility with fibre
• difficulty in getting permission from a landlord or property owner
• concerns about the need for new IT, broadband or phone equipment in the home
• lack of understanding of the advantages afforded by fibre.

We are proposing to build on these learnings using a structured approach that tests different tactics that we may deploy to help remaining copper customers to move to fibre.

What's the detail 

The research we’re proposing is focused on copper connections at a local level and with low volumes, and will utilise the existing Chorus the door-to-door approach.

For this trial, we’ve selected three copper cabinet areas in Auckland, two in Howick and one in Massey, with approximately 500 copper connections. Over the four months of the trial our migrations team will follow a structured research plan testing different tactics.

The first phase, starting in November, will build on our understanding of the barriers to taking up fibre and evolving the tactical approach to overcoming these barriers. Phases two and three next year will test and further develop tactics and methodologies.

We’ll share the results of the testing as we believe it may help you in creating retail offers to target those yet to migrate. We’ll also use the learnings to inform the development of our possible future wholesale offerings.

What's next

Please get in touch with your Account Lead if you have any questions, or you would like a detailed  trial information pack. We look forward to your feedback