Contact Energy, which generates about a quarter of New Zealand’s electricity, plans to sell as much as $125 million of six-year bonds in the final step of its refinancing programme. The Wellington-based company will offer $100 million of unsecured, unsubordinated, fixed-rate bonds to institutional investors and New Zealand retail investors, with the potential for a further $25 million in oversubscriptions, it said …
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Regulator set to keep Chorus pricing largely unchanged
The Commerce Commission looks likely to settle on a price close to its original decision on what telecommunications network operator Chorus can charge its customers, though it probably won’t backdate any update. The regulator today released its draft determination for what Chorus can charge on its regulated copper lines in its final pricing principle – a more rigorous process to …
Read More »ComCom pushes out final decision on Chorus copper line pricing
The Commerce Commission has pushed out the timeline for a final decision on what price Chorus can charge on its copper line network as it deals with a large amount of complex information, and said its initial view is that the regulated price should be backdated no further than the start of December this year. The competition regulator expects to …
Read More »Chorus shares jump after regulator lifts access pricing
Shares of Chorus, the regulated telecommunications network operator, jumped as much as 17 percent after the Commerce Commission lifted the prices it can charge for access to the traditional copper lines network for broadband internet services. The shares rose as high as $2.50, the highest the shares have traded since October last year, when the antitrust regulator priced its copper …
Read More »Small win for Chorus in Comcom draft decision on copper pricing
Regulated telecommunications network operator Chorus had a small win in its long-running stoush with the Commerce Commission over the prices it can charge for access to the traditional copper lines network for broadband internet services. However, Chorus chief executive Mark Ratcliffe says the draft new rates, proposed today, will still knock an $80 million hole in annual operating earnings. “This compares …
Read More »Chorus plan to add director to boost capability in changing landscape
Chorus, the regulated telecommunications network operator, wants to add another independent director to its board to enhance its capability in what’s become a vastly different landscape in just three years. Shareholders today voted on whether to approve a lift in the pool for directors’ fee to $1.1 million from $980,000, which was set in 2012 when Chorus was carved out …
Read More »Chorus sees growth in high-speed connections, talks up network value
Chorus, the telecommunications network operator, is seeing growth in its high-speed fixed line connections as it continues to roll out the bulk of the government-sponsored ultrafast broadband fibre network, and is talking up the value of its lines as it tries to deflate the threat of price regulation. The Wellington-based company added 6,000 fixed line connections in the three months …
Read More »Chorus to ask shareholders to lift directors’ fee pool 12% to beef up board
Chorus, the telecommunications network operator, will ask shareholders to hike the pool for directors’ fees 12 percent if it needs to bolster its board as it tries to limit the impact of regulation on its revenue streams. Shareholders will vote on Oct. 29 in Wellington on whether to increase the pool to $1.1 million from $980,000 set in 2012 after …
Read More »Telecom unbundling key to regulator’s copper conundrum
Telecom Corp’s dominance in the country’s retail broadband market and how it chooses to unbundle services on Chorus’ ageing copper network are central to the conundrum facing the Commerce Commission. The regulator has backed away from imposing a sharp cut to the regulated price Chorus can charge wholesale customers for access to the copper lines, and has released another paper …
Read More »Upbeat signs in telco law review not enough to save Chorus dividend, broker says
Chorus’s board will probably have to cut its return to shareholders with promising signs in a government review of telecommunications law still likely to leave a hole in the network operator’s earnings, according to a broker’s report. While viewing the prospect of direct intervention in copper line pricing as a positive Craigs Investment Partners has cut its recommendation on Chorus …
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