• Increase in fibre connections by 14,000 to a total of 1,098,000
• Fibre uptake increased to 71.7% of addresses
• Remaining copper connections down 22% to 123,000

Chorus has released another steady financial result for the six months ended 31 December 2024, despite the challenges of New Zealand's prolonged economic recession. EBITDA was $346 million for HY25, just below HY24 EBITDA of $347 million. Revenues of $500 million were down $3 million from HY24 largely due to the ongoing decline in legacy copper connections and revenues. New property development revenues were about $2 million lower due to the slowed economy, while there was strong growth in the lower revenue 50Mbps broadband plan largely reflecting cost-of-living pressures. About 21,000 residential connections were added to this plan in HY25, while business and residential fibre connections on plans of 500Mbps or more grew by 17,000 lines. Multi-gigabit Hyperfibre connections continued to grow in popularity and recently passed 5,000 lines. About a quarter of residential customers are on 1Gbps speeds or faster. Total fibre connections grew by 14,000 lines in the six months, with fibre uptake lifting to 71.7 per cent of the more than 1.5 million addresses passed. This growth in connections helped lift fibre broadband revenues to $361 million, up $20 million from HY24, and accounted for 72% of total revenues. Operating expenditure of $154 million was $2 million lower than HY24, as Chorus' strategy to simplify its business and reduce legacy costs helped offset inflationary cost pressures and costs to explore new revenue opportunities. Gross capital expenditure was $199 million, down $33 million from HY24, reflecting disciplined cost control and fewer fibre installations. The acceleration of depreciation on copper-related assets, as Chorus retires its legacy copper network, drove a net loss after tax of $5 million, compared to a profit of $5 million in HY24.

• Dividend: 57.5 cents per share, unimputed, with 23 cents to be paid on 15 April 2025
• EBITDA: unchanged $700 million to $720 million - tracking to lower half of range
• Gross capital expenditure: unchanged $400 million to $440 million
• Sustaining capital expenditure unchanged $200 million to $220 million - tracking to lower half of range

Chorus is making rapid progress in its shift to become a simpler all-fibre digital infrastructure company, with just 10% of Chorus' connections remaining on copper. Chorus expects to have issued closure notices to all the copper customers in its fibre areas by the end of FY26, about six months earlier than originally planned. The company is also targeting the retirement of the copper network by 2030.