As Telecom drags feet on split, Chorus fibre roll-out proceeds at pace

Here's one for the conspiracy theorists: on the heels of Telecom announcing that it can't split by June - potentially delaying the Crown Fibre contract process - the company's networking division, Chorus, has announced that it's on track to complete its massive fibre-to-the-node project in under 12 months.

Chorus said this morning that it has another 1000 cabinets to go to reach its goal - mandated in its undertakings to the government - of installing 3600 roadside fibre cabinets, and 2500km of new fibre optic cable as part of a drive to deliver 10Mbit/s+ internet to more than 80% of New Zealanders.

The cabinets bring fibre closer to homes and business, and also - in most cases - support VDSL, a faster version of broadband over copper, not yet commercially launched. Telecom Wholesale's VDSL services will be unregulated.

Considering the machine-like pace Chorus' roll-out so far, there's no reason to doubt it will meet its end-of-2011 deadline.

And once all those cabinets are operational nationwide, Chorus will be in a stronger position to be spun-off, as required for Telecom to participate in the $1.5 billion ultrafast broadband project.

Telecom has blamed the overall UFB process for its inability to separate by June. But, still, there's no doubt that if separation happens more toward the end of 2011, then the stars will be more aligned in the company's favour.

Anyhow, so much for the politics. According to the Commerce Commission's independent studies, broadband is getting faster. Click on the table above to see how Chorus is doing with its fibre-to-the-node project, region by region.

Half of homes connected
“Around half the homes connected to our cabinets are within five hundred metres of our fibre optic cable network and ninety percent within one kilometre, giving us a head start in our journey to a fibre future.” Chorus Acting chief executive Ewen Powell said this morning.

About 800 people from a range of organisations have been involved in the project across the country. Christchurch manufacturers Shape Technology and Eaton Electrical have played a pivotal role, helping establish a manufacturing production line that produces an average of 25 cabinets a week.

Each cabinet costs around $100,000, plus the cost of rolling out fibre.

Chorus began its national programme in Auckland’s Point Chevalier in March 2008.

Telecom shares (NZX: TEL) closed up one cent to $2.30 yesterday, continuing the company's recent bull run, notable for the recent sharp spike in volume (see chart above, courtesy NZX.com):