Proposed UFB price changes by reference to CPI from 1 July 2020
We’re proposing adjusting the prices we charge for fibre services under the Reference Offer by reference to CPI from 1 July 2020. We want your feedback on these proposed changes.
What’s happening?
As a result, we’re proposing adjusting the prices we charge for most fibre services under the Reference Offer by reference to CPI from 1 July 2020.
We’ll calculate the percentage by which the CPI – All Groups index for the March quarter 2020 exceeds the March quarter 2019. The current prices will be increased by this percentage (i.e. the CPI inflation rate). As a reference point, from the December quarter 2018 to the December quarter 2019, the CPI inflation rate was 1.9 percent.
You can check out a full list of the fibre services to which these proposed price changes will be applied here. Broadly, we’ve proposed applying a CPI price increase to all fibre services we provide under the Reference Offer from 1 July 2020, other than:
- Hyperfibre – In November 2018 we told you about our plan to launch our new Hyperfibre product suite, including consumer and business plans. Hyperfibre services have been available in Queenstown and surrounding areas since 13 January 2020, with a schedule for wider rollout of this service published here. Given these products are new to market, we don’t propose any CPI adjustment to the price of these services from 1 July 2020. [Note: Release of the Hyperfibre service is subject to Crown Infrastructure Partners (CIP) approval.]
- Fibre Max (Gig) – In November 2018 we let you know the price of the consumer and business Fibre Max plans would reduce further from 1 July 2020 as follows:
|
NGA Plan |
Current price |
From 1 July 2020 |
|
Consumer Max 500 2.5-2.5 |
$60.00 |
$56.00 |
|
SME Max 500 2.5-2.5 |
$70.00 |
$66.00 |
As a result, we don’t propose any CPI adjustment to the price of these services from 1 July 2020.
- Small Business Fibre – In July 2019 we launched Small Business Fibre. Given this product is relatively new to market, we don’t propose any CPI adjustment to the price of this service from 1 July 2020.
- Tail Extension Service (TES) – In December 2019 we told you we were working on a national TES service which we intended to launch in March 2020. We shared with you the proposed pricing for that service at the same time. Given the imminent launch of this service, we don’t propose any CPI adjustment to the price of these services or any other TES services currently available from 1 July 2020.
- New services - any new services launched by us after the date of this Customer Update. If we launch any of these types of services, we’ll provide appropriate pricing information related to those services at the time of launch.
Important note: This proposed CPI price increase remains subject to internal approvals.
What are the details?
You can see a summary of the key milestones for this CPI price change process here. The first step in the process is consultation, which opens today and runs until Friday 20 March.
We have summarised the proposed consultation framework we will use to govern our engagement with you here. The key features of the framework include:
|
Feature |
Commentary |
|
A session to explain the proposed price changes |
We’ll host a meeting to provide background information about, and an explanation of the rationale for, the proposed changes. This meeting is scheduled for 2.00-2.30pm on Monday 9 March at our office in Auckland (Chorus House, Level 16, 66 Wyndham Street). For more details on how to participate in this meeting, see Next Steps below. |
|
Q&A Register |
We’ve developed a Q&A Register, whereby service providers may log public queries for us to answer about this proposed CPI price change. The Q&A Register will be open for the first week of the consultation period and will close on Friday 13 March. You can view the template for the Q&A Register and find out more details about how the Q&A Register will work. |
|
High-level summary of consultation feedback |
We’ll publish a Customer Update on Monday 30 March letting you know whether:
We’ll include a high-level summary as part of that Customer Update. Our default position is that we won’t identify the service providers who gave feedback nor what feedback belongs to which service provider. We’re open to making a connection between you and your feedback as part of the summary, if you tell us you want us to do so. |
Next steps
A session to explain the proposed price changes
We’ll be hosting a meeting at our office in Auckland (Chorus House, Level 16, 66 Wyndham Street) from 2.00-2.30pm on Monday 9 March. The meeting is to provide background information about, and an explanation of the rationale for, the proposed changes.
All service providers are welcome to attend this meeting. If you want to attend, contact Hannah Croft to register. Dial-in details are available if you can’t attend the meeting in person.
We won’t be taking any questions or feedback on the changes during the meeting. If you do have questions or feedback, please send this to us as set out below.
Questions about the proposed price change
If you have any questions about the proposed price changes, please send them to QARegister@chorus.co.nz. The register is open for you to log questions from today until 5pm on Friday 13 March.
Consultation Feedback
We’d like your feedback on the proposed price changes by 5pm on Friday 20 March. We’re specifically interested in your thoughts what fibre services are in scope/out of scope. Please send your feedback directly to CPIFeedback@chorus.co.nz.
You’ll need to let us know whether you want your feedback to remain anonymous or not (i.e. do you want us to publicly make a connection between you and your feedback as part of the high-level feedback summary we intend to provide to the industry once consultation closes).
Everything at your fingertips
We’ve created a dedicated space on the Chorus Service Provider website in which you’ll find all the information about these proposed price changes. You can find that here.
Contact
For any queries, please contact Hannah Croft or Alan Mitford-Taylor at first instance.