We are introducing a fixed price of $1,500 (incl GST) for Overhead to Undergrounding (OHUG) conversion of aerial fibre service leads where these are requested at the same time as a new standard fibre installation. This fixed price relates to OHUG work required to bring the network to your customer’s boundary line ready for installation.

 

The fixed price will apply to OHUG work of this nature for all premise types. This will simplify your sales conversations, provide early cost certainty for customers on outside property boundary work and provide you and your customer with a more efficient process for this type of OHUG work. This also means you will no longer need to wait for a quote - significantly speeding up the process.

This type of OHUG work will be completed by the provisioning technician as part of the appointment booked for a new standard fibre installation. The technician will agree with the site contact the appropriate method of installation within the property boundary, in line with the standard installation methodology process in use today.

The new process will be applied to all standard installation, new connections requesting an OHUG. Exclusions that may require further investigation will be assessed on site at the earliest possible stage and may attract additional charging (i.e. non-standard installs or existing aerial fibre connections).

You will still need to follow the current ‘price on application’ process to provide a quote where a customer that already has an aerial fibre connection wishes to move it underground. This type of OHUG work is not within the scope of the fixed price set out above.

 

What’s changing

 

We’ll no longer provide a quote for OHUG work up to a property boundary line and completed at the same time as a new standard fibre installation. This OHUG work will be charged at a fixed price of $1,500 (inclusive of GST). That means we won’t need to complete a site visit or investigate in these instances in order to provide a quote.

This change will create a much simpler process and charging arrangement, giving your customers cost certainty for carrying out this up to boundary line activity. It will also reduce the time it takes to deliver this service. Currently over 60% of the lead-time for fibre installations which include OHUG work relates to the ‘price on application’ process. The introduction of a fixed price removes the need for us to rely on that ‘price on application’ process for that part of any OHUG work which is outside of the property boundary.

 

Q&A

 

Does the standard price apply to me when I am ordering a new connection with an OHUG request?

Yes, but only for new standard connection requests.

What does the standard price for OHUG cover?

It covers the cost of moving the fibre network from the pole to a new undergrounding drop off point at the front boundary of the property. It also covers the cost of any reinstatement to local council standards.

What about Inside Boundary work?

If fibre is being installed for the first time, the ‘Inside Boundary’ work will be covered by the standard installation methodology process and method agreed with your customer.

Where there is already aerial fibre installed, all the work required (Inside and Outside Boundary) to move the existing aerial cabling underground will be quoted by the service company and any subsequent work will follow the Design & Build process with applicable timeframes.

Does the OHUG standard price apply when a new connection is ordered?

Yes, the standard price only applies to new OHUG connection requests where an ONT has not previously been installed.

There is an intact/working fibre at the property via overhead cabling - does the standard price apply when I order OHUG?

No, since there is already aerial fibre installed, all the work required (Inside and Outside Boundary) to move the existing aerial cabling underground will be quoted by the service company and any subsequent work will follow the Design & Build process with applicable timeframes.

Does the OHUG standard price cover move of Fibre ETP or ONT?

No, since there is already aerial fibre installed, all the work required (Inside and Outside Boundary) to move the existing aerial cabling underground along with shifting any other Chorus Network Elements will be quoted by the service company and any subsequent work will follow the Design & Build process with applicable timeframes.

Does the WYAH option apply when tech is onsite working on the OHUG build?

Yes, but only if the option is selected on the order. Additional charges will apply for all WYAH work on top of the standard price. Note: Some RSPs do not offer the WYAH service.

 

Next steps

 

Chorus is currently undergoing the internal review process to finalise these activities. We are looking to implement this change from 23 November 2020.