Chorus is set to offer new “hyperfibre” UFB fibre plans in the New Year – the next generation of fibre technology.
Hyperfibre is set to dramatically increase capacity and unlocks the ability to delivery exponential speeds on the Chorus fibre network of up to 10 Gbps.
Hyperfibre speeds of 2Gbps and 4Gbps are planned initially, with an 8Gbps service in the future.
The planned service will be symmetric, which means the same speeds for both download and upload. Chorus estimate that these speeds are likely to save Kiwi consumers and businesses an estimated 59 hours on average each year*
This will give Kiwis some of the fastest broadband in the world. New Zealand would become one of only 10 countries in the world to deploy broadband faster than GPON (the technology that currently delivers Fibre Pro broadband), and the first in the Southern Hemisphere.
Wholesale pricing for Hyperfibre services is yet to be finalised but Chorus expects there to be a modest premium on current gig pricing. The full price will depend on the margin that retail internet service providers add.
Chorus chief customer officer Ed Hyde said initial pricing would probably only appeal to business customers, although plans would also be open to residential customers.
Hyperfibre plans will be up to 40 times faster than today's most common UFB plans – you'll be able to download a high definition movie in one second.
Hyde says today the most common type of UFB fibre plan offers 100 megabit per second downloads, although some 20 per cent of new orders are for Chorus' current top-tier plan, which offers 1Gbps (that is, 1000 megabit/s).
Chorus have announced an indicative timeline of Hyperfibre release by telco cabinet and exchange areas (subject to necessary regulatory approvals)
It looks like there will be a bit of a wait before Hyperfibre is available in your area. If you’re looking for faster broadband speeds, compare our fastest plans here.
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*Yearly estimate is based on the average per user connection speed and data consumed for September 2019 across the Chorus network compared with maximum Hyperfibre 4000 connection speeds.
