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New Telecom CEO puts customers first

Posted Thu 28 June 2007 @ 1:31 p.m. by Sarah

At 6 ft 7 in tall, the first thing that strikes you about Dr Paul Reynolds, Telecom’s new CEO, is that he towers over everyone in the room. Dressed in a dark suit with no tie, he quietly submits to the photographer’s instructions to the turn, sit, stand and smile. Just off the plane from Britain the night before Reynolds has been thrown headlong into a round of media interviews and publicity shots. Also in the room is Telecom chairman Wayne Boyd, whose grinning widely. He’s absolutely delighted...

Categories: Fixed line carriers

Telecom announces CEO

Posted Thu 28 June 2007 @ 8:20 a.m. by Sarah

Telecom has just announced its new chief executive is Dr Paul Reynolds, the current CEO of BT Wholesale. He will be based in Auckland and will take up in role in late September. Until that time Simon Moutter will be acting CEO. Chairman Wayne Boyd said Reynolds was chosen following an international recruitment process."Globally there are few leaders in the telecommunications industry with Paul's combination of skills, knowledge and experience," Boyd said."Paul has led programmes of significant...

Categories: Fixed line carriers

Fibre a sign of a nation’s virility

Posted Tue 26 June 2007 @ 1:53 p.m. by Sarah

With all due respect to the Commerce Commission and the MED, you don’t expect a regulator to be funny. But during his speech to the Conferenz Telecommunications and ICT Summit David Stewart, director of investigations at the OFCOM (the UK regulator), had a couple of dry one liners worth repeating. He joked that the fibre league tables were becoming a sign of a nation’s virility but what, he asked, is the benefit to consumers of fibre investment? Of course, when you talk about fibre it could mean...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | ISPs | Regulatory

Govt. should declare its hand over fibre investment

Posted Mon 25 June 2007 @ 7:40 p.m. by Sarah

The government needs to be upfront about its fibre investment TUANZ CEO Ernie Newman told delegates at the Conferenz Telecommunications and ICT Summit today. He says the establishment of regional fibre networks, the advanced KAREN network and the Government Shared Networks may have created a false expectation of central government investment and that greater clarity is needed. “Minister Cunliffe has already made it clear, rightly, that the government has no intention of contributing to investments...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Regulatory

Five exchanges unbundled by Christmas

Posted Mon 25 June 2007 @ 7:24 p.m. by Sarah

Telecom Wholesale GM Matt Crockett says the company hopes to have five exchanges unbundled by Christmas. Speaking during a panel discussion at the Conferenz Telecommunications and ICT Summitt, Crockett says that - assuming the Commerce Commission rules on the Standard Termination Determation (STDs) in November - the first exchanges will be ready to go in December. “The top priority is getting services to market,” Crockett says. After the panel discussion, I caught up with Crockett, who says they...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | ISPs | Regulatory

Weak Non-Answers from Industry to Mobile Termination Challenge

Posted Mon 25 June 2007 @ 10:20 a.m. by Ernie

The lead article in today's Business Herald dealing with the disparity between New Zealand and Australian termination charges is significant mainly for the weakness of the responses of the two mobile operators."The 'Industry solution" will result in savings for customers," says Vodafone."Rates have been coming down because of better deals and pricing packages and there is no reason to believe they will not continue to do so," says Telecom.Guys, - what a load of bland, condescending, duopolistic,...

Categories: ISPs | Regulatory | TUANZ policy | Wireless carriers

Australian Regulator Costs Mobile Termination at 9c/Minute

Posted Fri 22 June 2007 @ 8:31 a.m. by Ernie

In striking contrast to New Zealand’s extortionate mobile termination rates of 20c/minute, Aussie regulator the ACCC has today issued new costings giving an indicative price of A9 cents (NZ9.63 cents) a minute. These costs are current and will form the basis of any access arbitrations from this weekend.This costing compares to the astonishing deal the New Zealand government, acting against the advice of our regulator, did with Vodafone and Telecom just two months ago. which reduces the equivalent...

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

Labour shortage no mirage

Posted Thu 21 June 2007 @ 10:10 a.m. by Sarah

Businesses keen to implement Next Generation technologies will need to salt away a little cash for the operational staff. As IP engineers become as rare as proverbial gold dust, demand for their services will be reflected in the salary packages they command. So you think I’m exaggerating? Well don’t take my word for it, listen to Greg James, CIO of Fonterra, the largest company in the country: “We’re seeing some serious salaries… that’s creating a very competitive type of marketplace. And we need...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Wireless carriers

Agenda setting summit

Posted Wed 20 June 2007 @ 11:54 a.m. by Sarah

Against a backdrop of sweeping regulatory reforms, Telecommunications Minister David Cunliffe will convene a Digital Strategy Summit in Auckland in October.The summit is designed to draw the country’s business and community leaders into a discussion about the future of information technology. The Minister said recently that it is part of revitalising the government's Digital Strategy, which was launched two years ago. "The summit will be preceded by web-based working groups that will pre-discuss...

Categories: Events | Regulatory

Phone Companies Should Learn to be Good Citizens

Posted Tue 19 June 2007 @ 8:26 a.m. by Ernie

So Telstra in Australia is spitting tacks at yesterday's Federal Government announcement that it has been bypassed for a rural broadband subsidy of around A$1 billion, in favour of an Optus/Elders consortium.Apart from Telstra, who is surprised?Telecomms watchers around the globe have been gobsmacked at Telstra's sustained campaign of vitriol and agression against the Aussie government and its various agencies. First it was perplexing, then mildly amusing, but then it descended to distasteful...

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

25Mbps downstream

Posted Mon 18 June 2007 @ 1:40 p.m. by Sarah

TelstraClear has announced that customers on its cable networks in Wellington, Kapiti and Christchurch will receive internet download speeds of up to 25Mbps downstream by the end of the year. The existing maximum speed is 10Mbps. Chief operation officer Luigi Sorbello says TelstraClear invested $1.2 million on Motorola’s Advanced Provisioning System (MAPS), which involved transferring more than 62,000 customer modems. The platform replacement allows for the addition of services such as...

Categories: Fixed line carriers

Mobile upgrade continues despite technology switch

Posted Mon 18 June 2007 @ 12:45 p.m. by Sarah

Telecom is pressing on with the $18.4 million mobile broadband upgrade to its existing CDMA network, despite the $300 million upgrade to a WCDMA mobile network. Telecom announced today that more than half Telecom’s Mobile Broadband network has now been upgraded and the roll out will be complete by December. The upgraded network offers competitive upload speeds that are 500 per cent faster, with Telecom stating in the past that customers can expect average uplink of 300 Kbps and max uplink of 1.8Mbps....

Categories: Wireless carriers

Huge Opportunity for Collaboration and Competition

Posted Sat 16 June 2007 @ 10:44 a.m. by Ernie

I've spent this afternoon in Sydney where for the first time, our Telecommunications Carriers Forum has held a joint Board meeting with its Aussie counterpart the Communications Alliance.It's interesting that you get new inspiration and flashes of insight when on unfamiliar ground. I certainly did as the Independent Chairs of the two parallel bodies summarised their strategic positions.Just about every industry, in every country, has its trade association. They exist to provide a meeting place for...

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

Telecom's plans for LLU

Posted Thu 14 June 2007 @ 3:15 p.m. by Sarah

Telecom Wholesale’s set of Standard Termination Determination (STD)documents - effectively its proposal for opening its exchanges to competitors - is now online at Telecom’s website. This submission was filed with the Commerce Commission on Tuesday, however Telecom have indicated that further information will be available to the Commission at the end of the month. According to the documents, of Telecom’s 650 exchanges 40 will be initially opened to competitors. The list of the first exchanges...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | ISPs | Regulatory

Should an SOE get into retail broadband?

Posted Tue 12 June 2007 @ 1:28 p.m. by Sarah

So why did a State Owned Enterprise in which telecommunications is an offshoot of its broadcasting service buy a retail ISP? I caught up with Kordia CEO Geoff Hunt today and asked him why the SOE wasn’t content to leave retail to private enterprise and instead paid millions for Orcon. Hunt described being a wholesale company that provided broadband products through ISPs they had no control over as “unbelievably frustrating”. He says the purchase of Orcon not only gives them direct control...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Wireless carriers

Commission Right to Stick to Timetable

Posted Tue 12 June 2007 @ 11:14 a.m. by Ernie

Much as I feel genuinely for the embattled Telecom people who are responding to tight regulatory timetables on multiple fronts, and much as I sensed the genuine concern reflected in Matt Crockett's letter to the Commerce Commission asking for some relief, I believe the Commission was right to reject Telecom's request and stick to its timetable.New Zealand is just too far behind the world to countenance any further delay. The precedent that a delay would have set, no matter how well justified...

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

Kordia buys Orcon

Posted Mon 11 June 2007 @ 1:28 p.m. by Sarah

The pundits were correct – Kordia has just announced its purchase of Orcon. And the price? $24.3 million. Orcon is to remain an independent entity when the sale takes effect on 2 July 2007. It promises to be a smooth transition as Orcon founder Seeby Woodhouse will stay on as a director but move to a consulting role. Current general manager Scott Bartlett will become the CEO and Mark Mackay will remain as the chief technology officer. It’s generally considered that Orcon ranks fourth among the...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | ISPs

Telecommunications Day now online

Posted Mon 11 June 2007 @ 12:42 p.m. by Sarah

The TUANZ Telecommunications Day always sparks a few headlines and this year was no exception, with Minister David Cunliffe choosing the occasion to announce the new Telecommunications Commissioner and a beefed-up spectrum auction. And while the media coverage was thorough - both on the day and in follow-up reports - nothing quite beats the real thing. So if there was a presentation you missed or would like to view again you can now do so online...

Categories: Events

Mobile pricing guide

Posted Fri 8 June 2007 @ 12:42 p.m. by Sarah

It's been quite a fortnight for media reporting about mobile operators, with that old chestnut - the possibility of a third network - once again making headlines.The Independent has Telecommunications Minister David Cunliffe hopeful that a third mobile network is imminent. And the Dominion Post reports that Telstra could be interested in buying Vodafone New Zealand, but that as neither side has made an approach to the other its all just speculation at this stage.Meanwhile technology journalist Juha...

Categories: Wireless carriers

And the winner is...

Posted Thu 7 June 2007 @ 12:48 p.m. by John

...Garth Biggs of the HiGrowth Project who became the first person to be registered for the Digital Strategy Summit set for the Hyatt Regency Hotel Auckland 2-4 October 2007, when he was the lucky winner of a drawing from respondents to an on-line survey about the event design and content held a couple of months ago. His prize is a complimentary registration to the Summit. Congrats to you Garth and a big round of thanks to all those industry folks who participated in the survey.

Categories: Events

TUANZ Annual Report 06/07

Posted Thu 7 June 2007 @ 10:41 a.m. by John

Usually corporate annual reports make pretty dull reading and are soon consigned to a dusty corner of the store room until the next office move. But surprise, the latest TUANZ Annual Report makes for some interesting reading. Reports from the chairman, Merv Altments, and chief executive, Ernie Newman paint a pretty complete picture of the key issues that most of us in the industry are facing to a lesser or greater degree. So if you haven’t had a peek, click here to be transported to page...

Categories: TUANZ policy

Is the ICT labour shortage an issue for business users?

Posted Thu 7 June 2007 @ 9:48 a.m. by Sarah

The TUANZ catch phrase ‘targeting the top ten in OECD for telecommunications technology’ is, as CEO Ernie Newman points out in the Annual Report, at the heart of everything this organization does. Our focus is on advocating for technology – wired, wireless, satellite – that will be of maximum benefit to the business user. But Agile general manager Tony Jayne suggests that while ubiquitous broadband is essential, so too is a labour force with a deep knowledge of how voice and data networks are...

Categories: TUANZ policy

Major Milestone Passed in LLU Preparations

Posted Wed 6 June 2007 @ 9:53 a.m. by Ernie

The unanimous agreement announced yesterday by the Telecommunications Carriers Forum on a wide range of issues relating to implementation of LLU is a huge feather in the cap of the industry and a critical milestone for users.LLU, naked DSL and bitstream services are very complex undertakings that require an enormous amount of detail and compromise among competing interests. The work the TCF has done in a relatively short time span is impressive.The whole industry deserves credit for the progress...

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

Tackling the incumbent's massive market share

Posted Tue 5 June 2007 @ 4:45 p.m. by Sarah

Operational vs. structural separation might be at the centre of the current regulation debate but when it’s resolved challenger ISPs face an incumbent with the lion’s share of the market. According to Commerce Commission figures released last week, Telecom has 74% of the broadband retail market (420,000 subscribers). So is there a place for regulation when it comes to tackling an incumbent’s large customer base? Ilsa Godlovitch, head of regulatory affairs for the European Competitive Telecommunications...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Regulatory

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