The largest telecommunications wholesaler in New Zealand, Chorus, has put up the prices it charges retail broadband providers for lower speed Ultrafast Broadband (UFB) plans, while taking the axe to the cost of its Hyperfibre offerings.
Chorus spokesperson Steve Pettigrew explained to CRN NZ that the wholesaler wants customers to pick its go-faster fibre options.
"The reason the Hyperfibre plans are coming down in price, and the gigabit plan has just a 3.6 per cent increase, is to encourage the uptake of higher speed plans." Pettigrew said.
While the 900/550 Mbps Fibre Max plan has moved up slightly in price by 3.6 per cent, Chorus has dropped the cost of its three Hyperfibre options with as much as 26 per cent for the fastest 8/8 Gbps option.
Hyperfibre is offered by providers such as Orcon which has merged with mobile and fixed broadband telco 2 Degrees, My Republic, and Lightwire.
The two largest telcos in New Zealand, Spark and Vodafone do not yet offer Hyperfibre plans.
Chorus also wants to encourage retailers to move customers off the 50/10 fibre plan to the 300/100 Mbps one introduced last year, which Pettigrew said offers better value and was designed counter the threat of 5G fixed wireless service.
The 300/100 Mbps plan accounts for about 70 per cent of Chrorus' residential fibre connections, Pettigrew said.
A new service option launched in April, the 50/10 Mbps Home Fibre Starter, has had its wholesale price unchanged at $38.00 a month.
Retailers must offer Home Fibre Starter to subscribers at price of $60 a month or less, otherwise the standard 50/10 plan wholesale price of $47.30 will apply.
From October 1 this year, Chorus has said the wholesale monthly pricing for its fibre plans will be as follows:
| Plan | Current price | New price | Increase or decrease |
| 50/10 Home Fibre Starter | $38.00 | $38.00 | None |
| 100/20 and 300/100 | $47.87 | $50.50 | 5.49 per cent |
| 50/10 | $44.22 | $47.30 | 6.9 per cent |
| 900/550 | $56.00 | $58.00 | 3.6 per cent |
| Hyperfibre 2/2 Gbps | $75.00 | $75.00 | -6.7 per cent |
| Hyperfibre 4/4 Gbps | $100.00 | $85.00 | -15 per cent |
| Hyperfibre 8/8 Gbps | $150 | $110.00 | -26 per cent |
Retail service providers are yet to confirm if they will pass on the price increases to customers.
