Effective 14 November 2018, Chorus will be grandfathering Boost VDSL. Boost VDSL will also be withdrawn from their suite of products one year from today, on 14 June 2019.
Service history
In December 2014 The Commerce Commission released an interim ruling stating that the price at which Chorus could sell a regulated copper broadband connection and phone line had to be lowered from $44 to $34.
This left a hole in Chorus’s budget, so as it lobbied the Commerce Commission to increase the regulated price in their final ruling, Chorus also worked in parallel to release a copper product that it hoped would be seen as sufficiently different enough to fall outside the scope of the regulated products governed by the Commerce Commission. The service difference was important, as if the service was not regulated, Chorus could charge what it liked for it, and possibly make up for the revenue shortfall caused by the lower price for regulated products.
What emerged was Boost VDSL, a service with a committed 10Mbps download speed average over a 15min period and free install with a $44 p/month wholesale price point.
Once Boost VDSL had been released to the market, the Commerce Commission came back with a final ruling that saw the regulated price point climb back up to $39, reducing the need for Boost VDSL before it had really got off the ground.
Interest in Boost VDSL
I feel as though I have always been one of a small number in the industry that has been very pro Boost VDSL. Most ISPs have not productised it, and I can see why, it is more expensive, and services have to be set up on a Boost VDSL specific handover.
But to counter that, it offers great speeds, and committed speeds at that, which makes it a very good diverse redundant service option in partnership with UFB.
The free install and open term also make it a fantastic temporary service option where clients are waiting on UFB installations to be completed.
What happens now?
We will soon need to stop selling Boost VDSL service and will make an announcement to that effect in the coming weeks.
We will also undertake a separate project to migrate affected clients to alternative services in early 2019.
Brendan Ritchie
