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TUANZ Supports Wellington City Fibre Initiative

Posted Mon 30 April 2007 @ 2:59 p.m. by Ernie

Good on the Wellington City Council for taking a lead in getting something done about future connectivity.Following a salvo from TelstraClear objecting to the Council getting into the space, TUANZ has taken the Council's side in this article in today's DominionPost.The telecommunications industry has not covered itself in glory by under-investing in NZ's future network requirements. Isn't it then a bit rich for the industry to criticise Councils or others who try to fill the gap? We urge TelstraClear...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Innovation | ISPs | TUANZ policy

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Wholesale customers updated on Next Generation Network

Posted Mon 30 April 2007 @ 1:56 p.m. by Sarah

Telecom Wholesale will update its customers on Thursday about the progress of its Next Generation rollout that began in March. The first exchange fitted with ADSL+2 equipment was Pakuranga.Spokesperson Melanie Marshall says only new broadband subscribers have been connected to the new equipment at the Pakuranga exchange. But exactly how many connections and whether some end users are now able achieve top speeds of 24 Mbps, Marshall can’t disclose until Thursday. Exchanges that are next up for the...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | ISPs

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Fast fibre network on the North Shore

Posted Thu 26 April 2007 @ 1:53 p.m. by Sarah

More than 30,000 students are set to benefit from a 1Gbps fibre optic network named NEAL (North Shore Education and Access Loop). Officially launched today, the network is a joint initiative between Government-funded Broadband Challenge and Vector. The million-dollar network is a configured in a loop around the North Shore. It then connects from Devonport across the Auckland Harbour to the peering exchange in the Sky Tower – and from there to the Southern Cross Cable. Those connected to NEAL,...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Innovation

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Best gains when LLU and separation done together - Minister

Posted Thu 26 April 2007 @ 12:38 p.m. by Sarah

Minister David Cunliffe dismisses fears that work on the operational separation of Telecom is stalling LLU and Naked DSL. I caught up with him at the launch of the open access fibre network on the North Shore which is funded jointly by the Government under its Broadband Challenge and Vector. I asked for his response to concerns by some ISPs in today’s Herald that work on LLU and Naked DSL may be delayed in favour of Operational Separation. “Absolutely not, there appears to be a misconception...

Categories: Regulatory

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Problems Remain in International Roaming

Posted Wed 25 April 2007 @ 11:48 a.m. by Ernie

Yes, it's often frustrating and it can be bloody expensive! TUANZ Board member Pat O'Connell, aka CIO at Carter Holt Harvey, features in this article from today's Herald berating the woes of international roaming.And it doesn't matter what network you are on. Here in Manila my Vodafone I-mate is almost useless - it won't make an outbound call, drops 90% (literally) of inbound calls, and won't mate with any data network. All it's good for is SMS which works perfectly. Beats me.The technology...

Categories: Innovation | TUANZ policy | Wireless carriers

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Malware - Update and Advice for NZ Users

Posted Tue 24 April 2007 @ 1:44 p.m. by Ernie

I'm in Manila this week at the 6-monthly meeting of the APEC telecommunications and IT working group - APECTel. There's been a very useful workshop on Malware (i.e. all the nasties that come down the line to threaten you and your computer.) I've posted a report on Malware for TUANZ members. The issue is daunting and rather scary. But we all need to be reminded that the threat from Malware is here, real, and growing - and we ALL have to be aware of it.More on here from Manila as the week progresses.

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21 in OECD ranking

Posted Tue 24 April 2007 @ 11:55 a.m. by Sarah

New Zealand is now ranked 21st in the OECD for broadband subscribers – up one place from last year. This equates to 14 subscribers per 100 inhabitants for the year ending December 2006. By climbing from 8.1 to 14 subscribers in a year NZ is among four countries to have shown the strongest per-capita subscriber growth. Along with Denmark, the Netherlands and Ireland, NZ added more than 5.8 subscribers. But despite strong growth, this country still only has less than half the number of the subscribers...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Regulatory

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Text messages go astray

Posted Tue 24 April 2007 @ 7:54 a.m. by Sarah

What’s up with Vodafone’s TXT service? There was a concern prior to number portability that the telco’s SMS capability wasn’t going to handle number porting and then murmurs in the media about text messages being delayed because of congestion. Then last week TUANZ received a complaint from a user who sent seven texts, only to discover three days later that not one of them had reached its destination. When the user phoned the Vodafone contact centre on Monday last week to find out why her texts...

Categories: Wireless carriers

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TUANZ to work with TCF on peering solution

Posted Fri 20 April 2007 @ 9:18 a.m. by Sarah

Peering has become a hot item on the telecommunications agenda lately, with many advocating that only Government intervention can resolve the issue. However the TUANZ board decided yesterday that the best way forward for users is to work with the Telecommunications Carriers Forum (TCF) on an industry solution. A group comprising of TUANZ and industry representatives (Vodafone have already volunteered David Diprose, who is also president of ISPANZ ) are to form a working party to examine the peering...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Regulatory | TUANZ policy

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Structural Separation - Look at it Seriously, TUANZ Advises Government

Posted Wed 18 April 2007 @ 1:15 p.m. by Ernie

TUANZ has expanded on its initial view of Telecom's proposal for voluntary structural separation, in today's DominionPost.The government released a discussion paper on operational separation earlier this month, to which submissions are due by 27 April. Telecom responded with its counter-proposal - voluntary structural separation - a few days later.Senior Telecom representatives will attend a meeting of the Board of TUANZ later this week for an in-depth exchange of views, prior to TUANZ making a submission...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Innovation | ISPs | Regulatory | TUANZ policy

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The high cost of being connected

Posted Tue 17 April 2007 @ 11:56 a.m. by Sarah

Calls on mobile and fixed lines in New Zealand are among the most expensive in the OECD according to a survey by the Commerce Commission. This is the first of its quarterly monitoring reports on the telecommunications market. So based on the Commission’s figures, what's a typical user paying? The Commission’s survey of Vodafone and Telecom mobile plans shows that a medium user can pay on average $598.01 (Vodafone), $660.94 (Vodafone) or $811.29 (Telecom) a year on their mobile account. On...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Wireless carriers

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Tauranga - Suppliers Spat, Users Lose

Posted Tue 17 April 2007 @ 6:20 a.m. by Ernie

Seriously bad news. TelstraClear has pulled the plug on its $50 million fixed/mobile Tauranga pilot network just a few weeks from the launch date.TelstraClear blames Vodafone which it says has reneged on a roaming deal that dates back to the start of the project - Vodafone made a "deliberate last minute change" that made the whole deal uncompetitive, TelstraClear says.But Vodafone claims there was no such change made. It says it had no idea until yesterday there was any issue with...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Innovation | Regulatory | Wireless carriers

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Wellington City Calls For Broadband Proposals

Posted Sun 15 April 2007 @ 11:44 a.m. by Ernie

"By 2012 all of Wellington City will have affordable access to an interactive and open broadband network capable of supporting applications and services using integrated layers of voice, video and data."That's a bold vision for any city but one Wellington has embraced.On Friday 27 April the City will release a "Request for Concept" paper designed to start the process of making this a reality. Click here for details or to arrange to attend the briefing.

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Innovation | TUANZ policy

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Telecom's watershed proposal

Posted Fri 13 April 2007 @ 1:09 p.m. by Sarah

TUANZ welcomes Telecom’s proposal to structurally separate its access network. In a media release TUANZ CEO Ernie Newman hails the proposal as “potentially a watershed for the telecommunications landscape.”Telecom’s proposal, which was released this morning, is a response to Minister Cunliffe’s discussion paper on operational separation tabled last week. The most striking aspect of Telecom’s proposal is the creation of a separate company that owns the physical copper access assets – that is the contentious...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Regulatory | TUANZ policy

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Mobile Termination Remains 3-4 Times Cost While Government Procrastinates!

Posted Fri 13 April 2007 @ 7:25 a.m. by Ernie

While mobile termination charges - the amounts Telecom and Vodafone levy to receive a fixed or mobile call onto their network - remain stuck at around 3-4 times the cost and near double the Australian equivalent, the government continues to procrastinate.A recently-released report the Australian government commissioned from WIK Consulting estimated the true cost of mobile termination at between 5.3 and 5.9 Australian cents per minute. This compares to the regulated "glide...

Categories: Innovation | Regulatory | TUANZ policy | Wireless carriers

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Wireless broadband auction among first in the world

Posted Thu 12 April 2007 @ 3:39 p.m. by Sarah

New Zealand will be one of the first countries in the world to re-auction 2.3 GHz radio spectrum that can be used for mobile Wimax broadband delivery. Wimax is a developing technology whose products, such as mobile handsets, are still in their infancy, yet many believe this wireless technology can compete with fibre for broadband speeds. Internationally, large telcos such as Sprint Nextel are pouring billions into its development, while in New Zealand CallPlus, Natcom, Telecom and Woosh are among...

Categories: Wireless carriers

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"Tell the Truth Telstra"

Posted Thu 12 April 2007 @ 7:41 a.m. by Ernie

More unseemly scrapping across the ditch! Enraged by Telstra's defiance of the regulator and government, a group of 11 competitive carriers has launched a counter-attack in the form of a Web site called "Tell the truth, Telstra." It's also formally asked the ACCC to investigate what it calls Telstra's "deceptive and misleading conduct."The war of words shows no sign of abating with Telstra's "Back Telstra" campaign continuing in full flight and ATUG, the sister user group to TUANZ, countering with...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | ISPs | Regulatory | TUANZ policy

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New National Telecommunications Carrier in the Market

Posted Wed 11 April 2007 @ 10:46 a.m. by Ernie

Nelson carrier thepacific.net has today launched a nationwide prepay Voice over IP service, effectively making it a national carrier.VoIP services in many different forms are sweeping the world, reducing markedly the prices people paid for voice calls in the bad old days of the PSTN. In New Zealand the move has been slowed by competition issues, but a major move forward in customer choice can be expected when Telecom launches its proposed Unbundled Bitstream Access service which flows on from...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Innovation | ISPs

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Separation Takes a Step Forward

Posted Mon 9 April 2007 @ 7:50 p.m. by Ernie

As we predicted on "Downstream" last week, Minister Cunliffe released a discussion paper on the detail of operational separation last Thursday. At first glance its about what TUANZ had been expecting. We will be going through it in detail and responding by the 27 April deadline.

Categories: Fixed line carriers | ISPs | Regulatory | TUANZ policy

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Should callers be alerted to off-net prices?

Posted Thu 5 April 2007 @ 1:11 p.m. by Sarah

Under mobile number portability, will callers unwittingly pay higher prices to make calls because the 021, 027 or 029 prefix no longer tells them what network they're dialing? Telecom and Vodafone offer a free text service, whereby you can text the network to find out if the person you’re phoning has ported their number. But is this really a workable solution? One TUANZ members thinks not, he says they should provide a warning beep before the call commences, in same way that Telecom has a...

Categories: Wireless carriers

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"Project Probe" Was a Success

Posted Thu 5 April 2007 @ 5:35 a.m. by Ernie

Peter Griffin usually gets his stuff right but I am not convinced by his article in the Herald in which he dismisses Project Probe as a failure.Probe was never fundamentally about getting broadband to farms. It was about getting to schools; anything it did for farms would be a bonus. In that sense it was a qualified success; in general schools now have broadband though nowhere near as good as many would like (for instance, the schools that use the popular Telecom "School Zone” product...

Categories: Education | Fixed line carriers | Innovation | Regulatory | TUANZ policy

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Separation Plan Revealed Today

Posted Thu 5 April 2007 @ 5:26 a.m. by Ernie

8.45 this moning will mark a step forward. Minister Cunliffe is to release a discussion paper on the operational separation of Telecom. The Minister is to meet with TUANZ representatives half an hour later.Originally it was intended that a draft determination would be issued so a discussion paper appears to be a step back. Telecom is known to be frustrated and anxious about the time it is taking for the government to specify exactly what form it wants the separation process to take,...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | ISPs | Regulatory | TUANZ policy

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Australia’s $9 billion broadband proposal

Posted Wed 4 April 2007 @ 1:36 p.m. by Sarah

The Australian Labor party's pledge to put up $4.7 billion for a Fibre to the Node (FTTN) network has attracted a lot of interest over here. To get an industry perspective I phoned Matt Healy from Macquarie Telecom. He’s a spokesperson for the G9 – that’s the group of Telstra’s competitors who’ve put up a proposal for an open-access fibre network. Firstly, the finances – Labor’s pledge of $4.7 billion, includes $2 billion already committed by the current government. It's estimated...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Innovation

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Amazing Hotel Dial-up Rip-Off in Rotorua!

Posted Tue 3 April 2007 @ 8:49 p.m. by Ernie

Ever gone on line at the Grand Tiara in Rotorua? It takes the booby prize, big time!I stayed there last week with our TUANZ Education Conference. Didn’t check the bill very carefully until after I checked out.No broadband in the room, so I used quaint old dial up - 0867 which is of course a local call?I logged in 5 times over the 18 hours. My shortest call was charged at 88c. The longest - wait for it - $73.63, for just over an hour on line before breakfast. Just dial-up,...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Light relief | TUANZ policy

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Vodafone don’t want Telecom Prepay customers to port

Posted Tue 3 April 2007 @ 8:33 a.m. by Sarah

Prepay mobile customers wanting to port their number to Vodafone’s network are out of luck, according to the company’s director of customer care Andrea Midgen.“We have great offers for both On Account customers and Prepay but our research suggests that heaviest demand will come from people wanting to move from competitors to on-account. The research shows that many prepay customers already have two phones, and that they are less likely to value their number than on-account customers. As a result,...

Categories: Regulatory | Wireless carriers

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