Our Story

It all began with the first “talking telegraph” trial in 1877 which brought about the formation of the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Department in 1881. 

What followed was 130 years of communications evolution that saw telephones in nearly every household in the country, the privatisation of the network and birth of Telecom in 1987, the internet, mobile phone technology, and optical fibre that brings telecommunications into a new era. 

In March 2008 Chorus was formed.  It was still a Telecom business unit, but operated at arms length from the rest of the organisation and was tasked with giving all service providers access to the local fixed line network. 

In December 2011, Chorus reached a major milestone, formally becoming a separate entity in its own right and listing on the New Zealand stock exchange. We are now traded as CNU.

Today, Chorus is New Zealand’s largest telecommunications utility company and continues its long heritage of building and looking after the country’s fixed line telecommunications network now and for generations to come.