Chorus announces full HD streaming support in time for Rugby World Cup

Chorus has announced it will support full HD streaming towards the end of this year, stating this is the equivalent of bringing forward two years of network capacity growth.

Designed to coincide with the Rugby World Cup, kicking off this year on 20 September, Chorus is prepared to support the streaming of the tournament for people around New Zealand. In fact, Chorus has said it is allowing for a 44% upsurge in traffic over the tournament period.

Prior to this announcement, Chorus has been working with retail broadband providers to see more than 2Tbps of further handover capacity added to its network. This allows for an additional 400,000 simultaneous full HD video streams, ensuring traffic can run uninterrupted between Chorus and the broadband retailers' networks.

Chorus' chief customer officer Ed Hyde says, "Allowing two hours of viewing per game means Kiwis could use 6GB of data on top of what they normally use. Clearly families will want to be on a fibre or VDSL connection and armed with unlimited data.

"We've invested heavily to maintain a congestion-free network since video streaming took off in 2015. Our preparations in advance of the Rugby World Cup mean there will be no buffering on our modern network despite the anticipated volume of simultaneous HD video streams," says Hyde.

Online live coverage of the Rugby World Cup will be available to stream in New Zealand up to 1080p full high definition, according to Chorus.

Hyde says, "If you're the kind of fan who wants to see whether that knock-on was intentional or not, you'll want to watch the game with the best possible picture quality. This means you'll want your broadband connection performing at the highest possible capacity for the full 80-minutes of action.

"Kiwis looking for best viewing experience should connect their TV to a fibre or VDSL broadband connection. Fixed wireless, or using a mobile network for broadband at home, won't allow for full 1080p HD and the picture quality will be reduced to 720p so as not to overload the mobile network."

"We're proud to say that Chorus' fibre and VDSL networks are ready for live sports at Ultra HD 4K quality. While this hasn't made it here in time for the Rugby World Cup we're looking forward to showing what our networks can really do when live 4K sports does arrive," he says.

Chorus says those in New Zealand who are looking for high quality streaming should consider getting their homes connected to fibre or VDSL prior to the Rugby World Cup, which takes place this year in Japan.

"There are a limited number of homes we can connect to fibre in the weeks before the tournament and we're encouraging Kiwis to get in quick so that they can get the best possible viewing experience.

"We estimate there are now fewer than 50,000 fibre connections left before the opening game on 20 September, having connected nearly 40,000 homes since March," says Hyde.

Chorus has an address checker available on the company's website to enable people to see if fibre is available at their home.