The telco will also start cutting off copper services in fibre-heavy areas in September.
Chorus on Monday reported net profit after tax (NPAT) of NZ$24 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of NZ$323 million for the half year to December 31. These were both year-on-year decreases from NZ$31 million and NZ$332 million, respectively, with Chorus attributing the drops to the continued migration of customers from legacy copper services to alternative networks in non-Chorus fibre network areas and fewer people migrating to fibre connections than expected as a result of COVID-19. Operating revenue for the period was NZ$473 million, down from NZ$483 million, while operating expenses essentially remained flat at NZ$150 million. Depreciation and amortisation was NZ$209 million for the half and EBIT jumped by NZ$20 million year-on-year to NZ$114 million. Network performance was steady, Chorus CEO JB Rousselot said, with fibre uptake improving from 60% to 63% with 62,000 fibre connections added during the six months, which brought the total of its fibre connections to 813,000.
