Chorus confident free non-standard UFB installation will continue

UFB partner Ultra-Fast Fibre, which operates in the central North Island, is providing free residential connections until 2019. Chorus contributed $20 million to this fund. Photo / NZ Herald

Telecommunications network company Chorus says it's confident households that are trickier to connect to ultra-fast broadband won't have to pay extra for installation from next year.

Non-standard installations are those where a home may be part of an apartment block, down a shared driveway, up a hill or some distance from the road. These installations are currently supported by a fund which is due to expire at the end of 2016.

In an interview with Radio New Zealand, Chorus chief executive Mark Ratcliffe said he expected the fund "will run right the way through until the end of 2016 and we're in discussions with the Crown about the extension of that fund, post-2016. The fund runs out at the end of 2016 ... we are confident that the agreed amount of the fund will be completed by that time".

In November 2012, the government announced a deal with UFB partners Chorus, Enable and Northpower to provide free residential connections for distances up to 200 metres per house from the road, with enough funding to last until the end of 2015.

UFB partner Ultra-Fast Fibre, which operates in the central North Island, is providing free residential connections until 2019. Chorus contributed $20 million to this fund.

In 2014, Chorus agreed to increase its non-standard installation fund by $8 million, with some of the money coming from reducing its marketing spend on fibre to $2.5 million from $5 million.