We have learnt that fibre customers in Northland experience more faults at activation than elsewhere, and disbursed technician resource means recovery can take longer. 

To address this, we’re introducing a tactical pre-activation check in Northland from 23 October 2025. By proactively checking intact orders before activation, we can catch ONT issues early, improve customer outcomes, and feed into the design of long-term solutions.

Why this matters

• Situation: Northland’s geography and dispersed demand create challenges for field resourcing. This slows fault recovery and affects our ability to deliver a consistent customer experience.

• Key factor: Customers in Northland face higher than national rates of failed activations (contributing to ~30% of faults in the region), often due to missing/damaged ONTs, missing power cords or physical property changes.

• Solution: We will proactively address at-risk intact orders to reduce failed activations. This shift from a reactive to proactive approach will enable us to better plan and position resources, improve service delivery for customers within acceptable timeframes, enhance the overall fibre experience, and balance the wider demands on our Northland technician resources.

What we’ve learned

Last year we trialled Intact Jeopardy Management and learnt what does and doesn’t work in identifying at-risk orders. Based on your feedback, we improved ONT data records, customer communications, and website information. This Northland approach builds on those learnings. It will guide future investment in ONT visibility to enable smoother, more reliable activations.

Our goal remains to activate customers on the day they requested. To do this, we need to proactively identify and resolve at–risk orders.

Our approach

We’re introducing pre-activation checks for remote intact activations in the Northland region:

• ~200 remote activation orders per month.

• ~50 technician visits expected.

• Focused on resolving ONT issues to enable a seamless activation.

How it will work for Northland

For all at-risk remote activation intact orders our Connection Support team will contact customers to:

• Confirm ONT details, ensure it’s powered on, and troubleshoot if needed e.g. organise a replacement power cord.

• Schedule a free Chorus technician visit, if required.

• Provide a direct contact method so customers can reach our team for urgent ONT help during activation.

All interactions will be recorded in the activation order, including any customer agreed rescheduling. Additional technicians will be allocated to Northland to support.

A more detailed process map is available here. 

Timing

This solution will run from 23 October 2025 for three months, subject to review. We’re committed to maintaining transparency with you about this process, including any longer-term solutions.

Benefits 

• Immediate uplift in Northland connect customer experience. 

• Freeing up fault technicians to focus on in-service faults. 

• Builds on previous Intact Jeopardy Management trial learnings to help shape a wider approach in the future.  

• Minimise reactive fault handling.

Together we can reduce activation failures and deliver a smoother intact connection experience for customers.  

For more information, please contact your Channel Partner team.