Chorus chief executive JB Rousselot told the Herald "It’s a huge relief that the Government is now helping,” with an expanded Green List. But unlike key healthcare roles, the telco sector had to wait four months to be added to the expanded fast-track immigration scheme. Photo / Michael Craig
Chorus chief executive JB Rousselot told the Herald "It’s a huge relief that the Government is now helping,” with an expanded Green List. But unlike key healthcare roles, the telco sector had to wait four months to be added to the expanded fast-track immigration scheme. Photo / Michael Craig
Chorus says customers in some areas are waiting up to 10 weeks for UFB fibre - which it installs for Spark, One, 2degrees and other broadband retailers.
The firm says while Cyclone Gabrielle hasn’t helped, the key issue is that it urgently needs to recruit nearly 200 more skilled technicians“to connect New Zealanders to its fibre network in a timely fashion.” Its target wait time for a broadband install is 15 days.
Unlike key healthcare roles, the telco sector had to wait four months to be included in the expanded Green List. It has only just been added to the fast-track immigration scheme.
Chorus said today it apologises to customers for having to wait too long to get a fibre connection in some towns.
Several factors have impacted the time it takes for many people to get a fibre connection. These factors include current immigration settings, the borders reopening after the pandemic, a tight job market, and multiple extreme weather events, the firm said.
Customers in Northland, Coromandel, Rotorua, Taupo, Whakatane, Marlborough, Blenheim, Balclutha, Waikouaiti, and Ranfurly are experiencing significantly longer-than-desired wait times, Chorus said. Some have been left waiting up to ten weeks for their fibre installation.
Government policy relief - if on a delay
Just ahead of Christmas, Chorus cheered the Government as it included skilled telecommunications staff in an expanded “Green List” of professions eligible for fast-track immigration.
But although several health roles qualified immediately, telecommunications had to wait until March 2023.
Regardless of the delay, the situation is slightly less dire than it was. In December, Chorus said it was short of 350 skilled technicians.
“The inclusion of skilled telecommunications technicians on the Green List will make it easier for Chorus to find workers who are qualified and experienced in this field,” Chorus chief executive JB Rousselot said in December.
“The past few years have highlighted the importance of connecting to a very high-capacity network to meet the broadband needs of our families and businesses,” Rousselot said at the time.
“We are doing everything in our power to find and train local technicians, but given the tight job market, we have been unable to secure enough workers within New Zealand, despite significant efforts to do so. The ‘help wanted’ sign has been well and truly out.”
E tū union organiser Joe Gallagher welcomes telco engineers being added to the Green List, but is also wary the move would undermine local training. Photo / File
Joe Gallagher, an organiser with E tū, the union that represents telco engineers contracted to Chorus, told the Herald he welcomed the Green List expansion as a way to address the tech skills shortage.
“But I’ll continue to work with the companies like [Chorus UFB subcontractors] Downer and Ventia to encourage them to train domestically - because as Covid has shown us, it’s important to have a strong domestic supply line of locals coming through. Otherwise, you get caught in a shortage.”
Gallagher said his union would also be keeping a sharp eye on events, given that a number of smaller (and now blacklisted) Chorus subcontractors were prosecuted for exploitation of migrant workers during the pre-pandemic era.
Chorus said this morning it was working with service companies “to develop vocational training schemes to encourage new entrants to become multi-skilled telecommunications technicians.”
Service companies are also working to encourage back technicians who may have left the industry or returned to their home country when residency visas were granted during the pandemic and our borders reopened, the company said.
Chorus shares closed Monday at $8.70. The stock is up 18.4 per cent over the past year.
