UFB and MDU Questions

You have posed three questions which I will deal with in turn;

Q1. Why does only one ISP (MyRepublic) shows UFB as being available at your address, the rest saying it is not available?

Answer: Most (not all) ISP link their fibre availability tools to the “ready for service” date in our UFB rollout data. The address you are referring to in Te Aro is not scheduled to have the UFB communal street cabling completed for another couple of year at least. Some ISPs go further and are also looking up the “fibre-ready premises” data that we provide to ISPs which indicates that legacy Chorus fibre is already in a CBD building.

Q2. What is Chorus' definition of "pre-fibred"?

Answer: In some parts of CBD Auckland and Wellington there are buildings that are still some time away from having UFB fibre laid in the street outside. But many (not all) have some legacy fibre previously installed into the building and corporate & business customers have got (mostly point-to-point) fibre services in operation. GPON-based UFB services can be delivered over this fibre to tenants in these buildings.

In your particular case your apartment block was formerly a commercial building and had legacy fibre in the basement. The commercial building was converted to a residential MDU. Rather than having to wait another couple of years to get “UFB fibre” down the street, we can use the existing legacy fibre to deliver a GPON service to residents in your building.

Q3. What are the rules regarding UFB install subsidies and MDUs?

Answer: Well, it depends . . . .

As part of the rollout of UFB, once we have received an order for service, Chorus will arrange to get fibre from the street to each of the tenanted spaces in an MDU (apartment, office or shop space). We have a budget to work to and in some cases building owners do not have to contribute to the fit out, while in others instances they do.

Factors that influence the cost of internal fibre fit out include (but are not limited to):

Number of floors/levels in complex
Number of units per floor
Availability of space in basement to install fibre access terminals/trays
Presence of vertical risers to carry fibre to each level
Presence of existing horizontal cable trays to carry cabling around the floor
Access space between units to get fibre into each unit
Free space within wall/floor/ceiling cavities to pull fibre, if no risers
Ability to use surface mount trunking on inside or outside of building where there are no internal risers

Every building is different so the solution in each case is usually customized to some extent.

^GL

gettingimpatient

Chorusnz