Consultation outcomes: Simplification of Layer 2 Point-to-Point portfolio
Last month we consulted on the simplification of our Layer 2 Point-to-Point portfolio with proposed NGA Business Premium and HSNS Premium changes.
RSPs provided feedback in both public and bilateral forums that were held during the consultation period of 6 – 28 October 2022. We have listened to and reviewed all feedback and can now confirm our final approach (refer to table below). Changes from what was initially proposed are reflected in bold.
|
Product |
Proposed change |
Update |
|
NGA Business Premium (existing EBS4) |
Stop-sell all existing NGA Business Premium plans from 28 February 2023. |
Confirmed. |
|
Withdraw existing NGA Business Premium NID and Glass plans on 30 November 2023. |
Confirmed. |
|
|
Between the stop-sell and withdrawal dates, moves, adds and changes would not be supported. |
Speed changes and moves within a customer’s premises will be supported between these dates. Address changes will not be supported. |
|
|
Ending NID support – this relates to previous announcement dated 1 December 2021. |
Network Interface Device (NID) support for NGA Business Premium extended to 30 June 2023 (previous final date for support was 1 December 2022) |
|
|
HSNS Premium |
Stop-sell HSNS Premium from 28 February 2023. This means no new HSNS Premium circuits will be provisioned from 1 March 2023. |
Stop-sell date changed to 31 July 2023, meaning no new circuits will be provisioned from 1 August 2023. |
|
Withdraw HSNS Premium on 31 July 2024. |
Confirmed. Unfortunately we cannot extend this date as the technology responsible for delivering HSNS Premium is going end-of-life. |
|
|
Between the stop-sell and withdrawal dates, moves, adds and changes would not be supported. |
Speed changes and moves within a customer’s premises will be supported between these dates. Address changes will not be supported. |
|
|
New Business Premium (EBS4) |
We propose to replace all NGA Business Premium and HSNS Premium plans with three new plans launching on 1 March 2023. These will be three new glass-only, High Traffic Class-only Enhanced Bitstream 4 plans: 1Gbps, 4Gbps, & 10Gbps. Available nationwide. Installation and monthly pricing is below. |
Confirmed. Please note:
|
A summary of Consultation feedback can be found here.
Confirming new Business Premium plans
All existing NGA Business Premium plans will be replaced with three new ‘Business Premium’ plans launching on 1 March 2023:
- These will be glass-only, High Traffic Class-only Enhanced Bitstream 4 plans: 1Gbps, 4Gbps, & 10Gbps.
- The new plans will be called Business Premium – specifically:
- Business Premium 1000
- Business Premium 4000
- Business Premium 10000
- The Business Premium plans will be available nationwide but availability outside of UFB and LFC areas will be subject to feasibility checks and could involve network extension (fibre build) costs.
- The new plans come with simple monthly recurring pricing:
- We acknowledge a trade-off to layer 2 Point-2-Point simplification being the new Business Premium plans start at 1Gbps @ $1,455. As a result, today we started industry consultation on a new High Availability Bandwidth, High Traffic Class (HTC) only product – based on XGS PON technology. Pricing to be determined, but likely will sit between our DFAS and new Business Premium price points. We invite your feedback on this product.
- Business Premium offers a simple one-off installation charging structure. Irrespective of whether the Business Premium circuit is a primary or diverse/redundant circuit, all installation charges will be equivalent to 1x monthly recurring charge – as per the below table.
Transitioning existing plans to alternate Chorus products
- All existing NGA Business Premium connections will need to move to an alternative product before the 30 November 2023 withdrawal date.
- All HSNS Premium connections will need to be moved to an alternative product before 31 July 2024 withdrawal date.
- Below is a list of suggested alternative Chorus business products that existing NGA Business Premium and HSNS Premium could be migrated to:
|
Product |
High Traffic Class bandwidth |
Architecture |
|
New Business Premium plans (from March 2023) |
1Gbps; 4Gbps; 10Gbps |
Layer 2 Point-to-Point* |
|
HSNS Lite Fibre |
Up to 100Mbps |
Layer 2 Point-to-Point* |
|
DFAS (dark fibre) |
N/A |
Layer 1 Point-to-Point* |
|
Business Hyperfibre (Bitstream 3a) |
100Mbps |
GPON |
|
NGA Business (Bitstream 3/a) |
Up to 100Mbps |
GPON |
|
Small Business Fibre/Hyperfibre |
2.5Mbps |
GPON |
*Only Point-to-Point products are able to support diversity which can be key for enterprise business resiliency needs.
- The incentives currently applicable to the NGA Business Premium 1Gbps plan ($1000 credit, free Fibre Project Management and Hot Cutovers) will carry over to the new Business Premium 1000 plans when launched on 1 March 2023, with the qualifying connections for new Business Premium 4000 and 10000 plans earning credits of $2000, free Fibre Project Management and Hot Cutovers. The same qualifying terms will otherwise apply.
Chorus will provide to each affected RSP:
- A summary of your NGA Business Premium and HSNS Premium connections impacted by these changes.
- Suggested alternate products to migrate your NGA Business Premium and HSNS Premium connections to. Alternate products are based on what is believed to be the closest substitute, providing the best value. Your Chorus account manager can discuss options with you.
This summary will form part of the withdrawal notice for those affected RSPs.
Your account team will be in touch with affected RSPs to discuss next steps and answer any questions.
Contact
If you have any questions or need further information, please contact your Chorus account team.