Press release:

 

Chorus, New Zealand’s largest fibre network operator, has gone live with a series of enhancements to its business fibre plans - designed to provide consistent, high-performance connectivity best suited to the small-to-medium businesses that make up the majority of companies in the New Zealand economy.

 

Dan Kelly, General Manager of Chorus’ Access, sees digitalisation as a vital opportunity for businesses to boost productivity and stay competitive. As business reliance on digital connectivity continues to grow, so too must the quality of the services supporting them. 

 

“Digitalisation is not something businesses can or should shy away from. It’s an opportunity to work smarter, using tools that can drive business productivity and efficiency. With the rise of cloud software, increasing files sizes, hybrid work models, and always-on customer expectations - having connectivity that keeps up with the pace of business can make the difference where it matters,” says Kelly.

 

“Recent Xero reporting shows adoption of digital tools is a key enabler for small business productivity growth, both at a national and individual level. Insights from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research show that a 20% increase in the number of businesses adopting cloud-based business tools in the future could add up to $7.8 billion to New Zealand’s GDP through increased productivity.”

 

Chorus has introduced a new 1Gbps symmetrical plan (1000Mbps download/upload) and increased committed information rates (which offer guaranteed bandwidth for business-critical application) to directly address rising demand for better upload performance to support cloud workflows, large file transfers, and video collaboration. Other enhancements being made for business fibre include reduced restoration timeframes and improved reporting.

 

“These enhancements to the business fibre plans reflect Chorus' ongoing commitment to working with internet services providers to deliver robust, fit-for-purpose products and services for the business community,” says Kelly.

 

The enhancements follow a targeted consultation (following market research) to determine the top-of-mind needs of the market.  

 

Recent Chorus research shows that on average, businesses can only operate for 6.9 hours without the internet, a significant decrease from 2022’s results at 9.6 hours operational. From e-commerce, cloud applications, video conferencing, to at-the-till EFTPOS payments – nearly every aspect of modern-day business, both online and brick-and-mortar, benefits from robust and high-quality internet connectivity. 

 

The research shows impact of outages can be immediate and significant. Where a business loses internet access, the top impacts are to operating function (54%), customer satisfaction (49%), productivity (48%), and revenue (43%). 60 percent of businesses say fast restoration is the most important feature of their connectivity. Every minute a business is without an internet connection, productivity and revenue suffers. 

 

“New Zealand businesses need the right infrastructure in place to support them on their digitalisation journey,” Kelly adds. “We’re confident that the Chorus fibre network delivers exactly what they need to do so confidently. It starts with reliable, built-for-purpose, business-grade connectivity, and you have that here with business fibre.”