Prime Minister John Key appears to be holding the door open to renegotiating the price at which Chorus undertakes its part of the national roll-out of fibre-optic cable under the government’s ultra-fast broadband project. Speaking after Cabinet, Key told journalists the government had “a number of options” for dealing with the billion dollar hole blown in Chorus’s earnings between now …

New Zealand shares fell as Chorus, fighting price controls, sank to a record low and other utilities at risk of regulation, including Meridian Energy, declined. The NZX 50 Index declined 2.621 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4792.329. Within the index, 21 stocks fell, 15 gained and 14 were unchanged. Turnover was $108 million. Chorus dropped 5.6 percent to $1.44, the …

Chorus has filed papers in the High Court challenging the way Commerce Commission set prices on its regulated copper lines, questioning whether the antitrust regulator interpreted the law correctly. The Wellington-based telecommunications network operator spun out of Telecom Corp two years ago is seeking a judicial determination on whether the commission was right to rely on comparisons with just two …