Chorus says New Zealand lacks the right incentives to encourage consumers to sign up for ultra fast broadband.
Photo: RNZ
Chief executive Mark Ratcliffe told the annual shareholders' meeting the New Zealand download speeds on fibre were significantly faster than in Australia.
Mr Ratcliffe said the cost of the rollout was also much less here than across the Tasman.
However, at 10 percent, fibre uptake in New Zealand significantly lags Australia's 38 percent take-up.
"In Australia, whilst they haven't got everything right they have thought about the idea that once the fibre network is rolled out that the copper does get turned off about 18 months after the fibre is rolled out in an area and customers are migrated across on to the new network and they put the right commercial arrangements in place."
By the end of September, Chorus had completed 35 percent of the fibre rollout.
