Chorus takes $7m hit on cyclone, flooding damage

Cyclone Gabrielle wrought devastation across the North Island. Photo / NZME

Chorus said it expected to report a $7 million hit to its annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) due to the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle and flooding across the country.

It had previously said ebitda would be between $675m and $690m in the 12 months ended June 30, before the storm impact.

The earnings update excluded future capital spending to replace the network.

Even with the hit, ebitda of between $668m and $683m in the June year would be an increase on the $660m reported last year, which was at the upper end of guidance.

Chorus added 19,000 fibre connections in the three months ended June 30, taking it to 1.03 million connections.

Total fixed line connections fell 8,000 to 1.27 million.

The network company said fixed wireless and satellite footprint expansion and its own fibre growth in greenfield developments was behind declining copper connections in non-ultrafast broadband zones, while other fibre companies were winning new connections in their own zones.

Chorus said the copper withdrawal programme resumed after a pause in the March quarter due to the cyclone, and said an increase in the number of technicians supported proactive fibre migration.

The company said 544 copper broadband cabinets no longer had active customers at the end of June, up from 330 cabinets three months before.

Copper services have stopped for 22,000 notified connections, and Chorus has kept an 88 per cent broadband retention rate across closed cabinets.

-BusinessDesk