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Data Peaks As Fibre Network Reaches 1.5 Million Addresses

Friday, 12 July 2024, 11:06 am
Article: Bill Bennett

Fibre users are using more data than ever despite a slowdown in network footprint growth and customer uptake.

Chorus reports the average monthly data use on its fibre network hit 623 GB in June. That’s a new record. It is higher than the data consumption recorded during the 2021 Covid lockdowns.

For comparison, in 2016 the average monthly data use was 100 GB a month. Three years ago, in June 2021 when many more New Zealanders worked from home than today, the average was 500 GB.

Some users have a greater data appetite. Chorus says 16 per cent of customers on its fibre network use more than a terabyte of data each month.

More move to fibre

Chorus added a further 7,000 addresses to the company’s fibre footprint in the quarter that ended on June 30 2024,

This took the total connected premises past the 1.5 million mark to 1,506,000.

Fibre uptake in all Chorus areas nudged up by 0.4 per cent to 71.4 per cent. The total number of fibre connections climbed 10,000 in the quarter.

Auckland and Dunedin residents are keen fibre users with take up rates of 76.6 and 76.5 per cent respectively. Wellington has been slower to adopt fibre. In that city just 70.7 per cent of those who could connect have chosen to do so.

Entry level plans growing fast

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Chorus reports strong growth for the entry level 50 Mbps Home Fibre Starter service. There were 9000 additional connections in the quarter. This is a lower-cost option designed to meet the needs of the less well off and those who only need a minimal level of service.

At the other end of the scale around a quarter of residential fibre connections are on plans with speeds of 1 Gbps or more.

Copper wind down continues

Today there are 45,000 remaining copper connections in Chorus fibre areas. That will drop to around 15,000 over the next six months.

The company says this reflects what is going on elsewhere in the world.

New Zealand retired 19,000 copper connections in the fourth quarter. This compares with 18,000 in the prior quarter.

One New Zealand picks Google AI security

One New Zealand says it has picked Google Security Operations for its cybersecurity.

Laura Ross, who heads One’s cyber security says Google Security Operations offers advantages over alternatives and improves the company’s security operations centre.

She says: “We have been able to increase the amount of telemetry we could ingest at a time and reduce our costs, leading to better visibility and insights.”

One NZ plans to become what it calls an “AI telco”. As part of that, it aims to ‘insert’ Google Cloud Security’s AI toolset into existing Google Cloud Platform (GCP) workflows.

While Google Security Operations is, in general, well regarded in cybersecurity circles, there are questions over user privacy and transparency. Like everything else from Google, there is a lot of data collection, which opens the door to misuse and there have been fears about its connection to government surveillance. At the same time, Google has not been transparent about data breaches and the way it handles user data.

Price hikes as Samsung upgrades phone handsets

This week saw the release of Samsung’s 2024 flagship phone handsets: the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Galaxy Z Flip6. Both new phones are thinner and offer a raft of incremental improvements over last year’s models but are more expensive.

The starting price for a Galaxy Z Fold6 with 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage is NZ$3050. This is seven per cent higher than the base model Galaxy Z Fold5. Prices for the Galaxy Z Flip6 start at NZ$2100 compared with NZ$1880 for last year’s model.

Samsung is highlighting the new phones’ AI features which echo those on the company’s S24 series. The most eye-catching feature is “sketch to image” software that uses AI to turn doodles made with the phone’s S Pen into images.

There is also a new version of Samsung’s interpreter mode that can display language translations on either a phone’s cover or its inner screens.

Both phones are powered by a version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset that has been optimised for Samsung. Samsung said the phones are tougher than previous models with updated hinge designs, new materials and more durable flexible glass on the inner screens. This is important, early folding phones were relatively fragile.

Another important, but often overlooked feature is Samsung’s promise of seven years support for the operating system and security updates.

Spark signs as Netskope managed services partner

Spark says it will offer Netskope’s cloud-native Security Service Edge (SSE) as a managed service for New Zealand customers.

SSE handles security for remote workers and cloud services. Among other functions, it provides secure web and cloud access for IaaS, PaaS and SaaS. It also enforces corporate policies, compliance regulations, and best practices.

PC market recovery continues

Research company IDC says the PC market has seen a second quarter of growth following seven consecutive quarters of decline. Year on year growth in the second quarter was three per cent although if China is taken out of the picture, the growth is more than five per cent.

AI PCs and the hype surrounding them explains part of the buoyancy but IDC says non-AI PC purchasing is up too.

Canalys, a rival research company, is more positive. It says worldwide shipments of desktops and notebooks are up 3.4 per cent year-on-year. Notebook sales are up four per cent.

It says: “The stage is now set for accelerated growth as the refresh cycle driven by the Windows 11 transition and AI PC adoption ramps up over the next four quarters.”

In other news...

CommsDay reports, sorry no online link:

A defence expert has urged the Australian government and the Royal Australian Navy to take more action aimed at protecting the nation's subsea communications cables in the face of growing threats of targeted attacks on cable infrastructure.

This is something the New Zealand Navy needs to think about too. Are we able to defend our international internet connections if tensions increase?

Yes, The 6G Race is Already On

Here we go again. Pete Bell writes for the Telegeography blog:

While 5G is still in its early stages of deployment, there are already preparations being made for the introduction of its successor. The initial technical standards for 6G aren’t expected until the second half of this decade, but this hasn’t prevented some players from getting an early start.

Presbyterian Support Central taps Spark to ease front-line mobility headaches

At Reseller News Rob O’Neill writes:

Not-for-profit Presbyterian Support Central has implemented Spark’s Modern Mobility solution to improve the end-user experience and boost productivity.

Xero downsizes in Wellington

Chris Keall’s story for the NZ Herald focuses on the software as a service company reducing its Wellington presence, then goes on to look at the most recent financial report:

The restructure helped fuel a comeback result for Xero, which reported a net profit of $174.6 million for the year to March 31 versus its FY2023 loss of $113.5m. The firm reported it had added 80 staff in the last few months of FY2024 and recently launched a generative AI assistant.

China hackers attacked Aussie networks

Juha Saarinen has a worrying story at Interest.co.nz about Chinese hackers exploiting older home routers. While the story is about Australia, he says New Zealand's National Cyber Security Centre considers the hackers to be a threat here too. He goes on to write:

The hacking group is able to quickly utilise newly discovered vulnerabilities for access, and builds its operational infrastructure by using compromised home Internet routers.
Many of these devices are old and end-of-life, and do not receive security patches. This makes them soft targets for hackers wanting to create launch points for attacks which is what APT 40 did for its Australian campaign.

Gartner survey finds 64 per cent of customers would prefer that companies didn’t use AI for customer service

The technology is not popular and yet many businesses continue to annoy customers by using it.

The Download Weekly is supported by Chorus New Zealand.

Data Peaks As Fibre Network Reaches 1.5 Million Addresses was first posted at billbennett.co.nz.

Bill Bennett

Freelance journalist.

Auckland-based Bill Bennett writes technology and business stories that are directly relevant to New Zealand readers.

His emphasis is on telecommunications, but he also covers other aspects of technology and business. You can find his features in the New Zealand Herald and hear him regularly on RNZ Nine to Noon and the NZ Tech Podcast.

Bennett's The Download Weekly newsletter is published every Friday. You can sign up for it here. If you want to support his work, you can make a donation to his PressPatron account.