A new era of broadband speed is planned, with Chorus today unveiling Hyperfibre - its next generation of fibre technology.
Using a XGS-PON fibre solution, Hyperfibre is set to dramatically increase capacity and unlocks the ability to deliver exponential speeds on the Chorus fibre network of up to 10 Gbps.
Hyperfibre speeds of 2Gbps and 4Gbps are planned initially, with an 8Gbps service in the future.
The planned services will be symmetric, with the same speeds for both download and upload, which are expected to save Kiwi consumers and businesses an estimated 59 hours* on average each year.
With these speeds New Zealand would become one of only 10 countries in the world to deploy broadband faster than GPON and the first in the Southern Hemisphere.
Chorus chief customer officer Ed Hyde says following the release of gigabit services in 2016, Hyperfibre further illustrates the near limitless potential of our fibre network and can enable a new era of high-capacity creativity, innovation and efficiency.
"With uploads and downloads happening in a blink of an eye, we can expect time and productivity savings across the board, especially for customers who transfer large amounts of data, such as creative industries.
"The exceptionally low latency of Hyperfibre will also offer new ways to collaborate and the potential to revolutionise digital business models. Obvious advocates will be those using high-performance software applications that depend on real-time communication and high-resolution images, such as remote medical diagnostics and surgery, instantaneous software prototyping, as well as gaming and interactive entertainment services.
Hybrid creative and production agency Augusto's operations head Mariano Segedin has been trialling Hyperfibre products and says the hyper connectivity has been critical to the workflow and growth of their New York office and client base.
"Given the nature of our business, we constantly find ourselves transferring large video files to offices across the globe. Having trialled Hyperfibre services, a 1 TB file (1,000 Gb) that would ordinarily take 12 hours to download/upload, now takes just 18 minutes.
As the majority of the infrastructure is already in place, Chorus says the intention is to release Hyperfibre services on a region-by-region basis from February 2020.
In the meantime, customers can register their interest and receive updates on the availability of the new Hyperfibre speeds on the Chorus website.
Pricing
Wholesale pricing for Hyperfibre services is yet to be finalised but is expected to be a modest premium on current gig pricing.
Ordering process
When Hyperfibre is available in their area, customers will be able to contact their preferred broadband provider directly to place their order.
This upgrade will take place in two parts:
- Chorus connect customer's current fibre connection to the Hyperfibre network at the local exchange.
- Chorus visits the premises and replaces the ONT (Optical network terminal that connects to the modem in their home) with a new one capable of handling the Hyperfibre speeds and offering RGW and WI-FI capability.
Timeline
Indicative timeline of Hyperfibre release by telco cabinet and exchange areas (subject to necessary regulatory approvals)
- February 2020 – Queenstown, Arrowtown, Wakatipu, Wanaka - Cromwell
- March 2020 – Courtenay Place, Johnsonville, Miramar, Wellington
- April 2020 – Invercargill, Invercargill East, Invercargill South, Waikiwi
- May 2020 – Auckland, Avondale, Birkenhead, Mayoral Drive, Ponsonby
- June 2020 – Palmerston North
- September 2020 – The wider Chorus UFB1 fibre network
*Yearly estimate is based on the average per user connection speed and data consumed for September 2019 across the Chorus network compared with maximum Hyperfibre 4000 connection speeds.
