TUANZ - Telecomunications Users Association Of New Zealand

TUANZ - Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand

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Could Spectrum Auction rules stymie WiMax deployment?

Posted Tue 30 October 2007 @ 12:19 p.m. by Sarah

Will those companies that successfully bid in the upcoming 2.3GHz and 2.5 GHz spectrum auction be able to on sell their management rights? And if not, will the inability to consolidate mean that operators wanting to buy those rights in order to develop WiMax services be stymied? These questions were at the core of an After 5s presentation by Woosh Wireless CEO Kevin Wiley yesterday in Christchurch. Wiley pointed out that under MED rules there are a total of six bands of spectrum up for grabs, but...

Categories: ISPs | Regulatory | Wireless carriers

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APECTel - a Summary of User-Centric Issues

Posted Tue 30 October 2007 @ 9:49 a.m. by Ernie

Following my week at the APECTel meeting I've completed a short summary report that compliments my earlier postings on Universal Service and the relationship between investment and competition. This may be of interest to the "regulatory junkies."APECTel continues to be a very valuable forum with benefits in numerous elements of my daily work for TUANZ.

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Pedicures, and the Utter Absurdity of Data Roaming Charges

Posted Tue 30 October 2007 @ 9:12 a.m. by Ernie

I got the following message from a distraught Telecom Mobile customer in my in-box this morning:"I worked for 2 days in Australia last week remotely and had discovered prior that the resort did not supply broadband. So I rang Telecom to ask for options, and they suggested using my Telecom Data Card, with a cost of $8 per megabyte download. This didn't sound so bad so based on this information, I spent approximately 15 hours consciously aware that I was not to open any email attachments if I...

Categories: Light relief | TUANZ policy | Wireless carriers

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Telecom Commits to BIG Fibe Investment

Posted Fri 26 October 2007 @ 10:07 a.m. by Ernie

Its all on! Hours after submitting Telecom's response to the Minister's determination on operational separation, Paul Reynolds has just announced Telecom will roll fibre out to every NZ town and city with a population of 500 or more inside 4 years.It makes my blog earlier in the week about good regulation enhancing, not destroying investment incentives seem ever-so-prophetic.Maybe, at long last, New Zealand's communications infrastructure is on a roll.

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

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Communications infrastructure part of value proposition - Skilling

Posted Fri 26 October 2007 @ 9:40 a.m. by Sarah

It’s fair to say that The New Zealand Institute’s chief executive David Skilling has the ear of the press and the Parliamentarians. This week, when he issued the Institute’s controversial position on climate change it made the front page lead of the New Zealand Herald. Of course, the other issue that the Institute is running hot on is its suggestion that a fast fibre broadband network be rolled out strategically, rather than inclusively. We’re fortunate to have Skilling as a speaker at the upcoming...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Regulatory

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Comment facility now accessible to all

Posted Fri 26 October 2007 @ 9:36 a.m. by Sarah

Observant readers may have noticed that we have changed the comments facility on the blog. The ‘captcha’ code – the random sequence of letters and numbers that must be typed in so it’s clear a human (and not a bot) has posted the comment – now has an audio function. We’ve installed this in response to a user who had been enjoying the blog until he went to comment and discovered he couldn’t because he is blind. The screen reading software he uses wasn’t compatible with the captcha technology on...

Categories: TUANZ policy

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Universal service – are fixed residential lines becoming obsolete?

Posted Thu 25 October 2007 @ 7:16 a.m. by Ernie

This week’s APECTel meeting in Chile has included a timely half day workshop on Universal Service Strategies. New Zealand’s universal service strategy, originally known as the Kiwi Share and now as the Telecommunications Service Obligation, is under review, as is Australia’s. Even though submissions closed a few days ago it was useful to get an understanding of modern practice in universal service regulation around the Asia-Pacific region. New Zealand is, I strongly suspect, the only country...

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Don't use PR speak when talking to the users - Freitas

Posted Wed 24 October 2007 @ 8:01 p.m. by Sarah

User-generated content is at the heart of one of the most popular technology sites in the country. Geekzone features news, reviews, blogs and social networking but, according to its founder Mauricio Freitas, it’s the online forums that attract the usersWith more than 500,000 unique visitors per month, Geekzone ranks 15th for the most Unique Browsers in New Zealand as audited by Nielsen Netratings. As a regular reader of his Geekzone blog ‘My Window to the World’ it seemed like...

Categories: Events | Innovation

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Mobile Premium Services Code

Posted Tue 23 October 2007 @ 11:31 a.m. by Sarah

Some of you may remember a trivia competition that was advertised on television earlier this year which invited people to text in answers to multiple choice questions. The campaign quickly ran afoul of the Commerce Commission after it received complaints from viewers who’d taken part and unwittingly found they were continually receiving texts they were being charged for via their telephone account. Following adverse publicity TV Cab, the watchdog agency for television advertising, refused to run...

Categories: Regulatory | Wireless carriers

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Regulation Encourages Investment and Innovation - Doesn't Hinder it - BT

Posted Tue 23 October 2007 @ 8:37 a.m. by Ernie

I'm in Santiago the next few days at the 6-monthly meeting of the APEC Telecommunications and IT Working Group. It's my university where I stay up to date in the fast moving field of telecommunications policy.This morning there's a workshop on "competition and investment." The aim is to work through the supposed trade-off between the competition-enhancing impact of regulation, and the allegedly investment-inhibiting impact.So it was seriously heartening to hear a speaker from British Telecom, Karen...

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Business Internet Awards – judging commenced

Posted Fri 19 October 2007 @ 8:22 a.m. by Sarah

The TUANZ Business Internet Awards are proving to be a good barometer of developments in the online space. The judges have just spent two days selecting the finalists in nine of the eleven categories – the other two are judged from the eventual category winners list.The two new categories – User Generated Content and Software as a Service (SaaS) attracted plenty of interest, however it was the Information Architecture and eCommerce Awards that were the most popular with 12 and 13 entries respectively....

Categories: Events | Innovation

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Fourfold Increase in Some Vodafone Charges

Posted Thu 18 October 2007 @ 6:40 a.m. by Ernie

As Rod Drury points out eloquently in his blog, an innocuous-sounding text Vodafone sent its customers yesterday contains news of increases of up to fourfold in some of its charges - notably text roaming.Coincidentally it happened the same day that Vodafone featured on "Fair Go" for offering customers a service that restricted their credit limit and then charging hundreds of dollars more. Sure, once sprung and a few minutes before Fair Go went to air Vodafone offered to reimburse the customers...

Categories: TUANZ policy | Vendors | Wireless carriers

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East Cape, Education, Great People, and the Digital Strategy

Posted Thu 18 October 2007 @ 6:12 a.m. by Ernie

I spent two fascinating days this week driving around East Cape, from Whakatane to Gisborne, looking at schools, ICT, computers in homes, and broadband. I reached four conclusions: This very low-income region has some dedicated, smart, committed people in the education sector working on the use of computer technology to improve the future of the region’s kids. The 20/20 Communications Trust deserves a huge accolade for its work getting computers into homes in the region The government...

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Kiwi Share - TUANZ Submission Lodged

Posted Mon 15 October 2007 @ 11:49 a.m. by Ernie

TUANZ this morning lodged our Submission in response to the government's review of the Kiwi Share or TSO.Our key conclusions are: The process and timing have been poor and this will result in submissions, our own included, being of lesser quality than if the review had been better integrated with other policy changes The existing TSO has not done the trick and has produced perverse outcomes Over time we hope technology will reduce the underlying cost differential...

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TUANZ Innovation Awards - winners announced

Posted Fri 12 October 2007 @ 12:05 p.m. by Sarah

It was a night of two halves and telecommunications was the winner. The rugby analogies flowed thick and fast at the TUANZ Innovation Awards held at the Hyatt Regency in Auckland last night. MC Frankie Stevens sung about the All Blacks and Minister David Cunliffe urged the industry to form a new game. But in stark contrast to recent events in the sporting arena, the telco sector fielded plenty of winners last night. Xero took out the Commerce Award and the Telecommunications Innovation of the Year...

Categories: Events | Innovation

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A Call to All Committed, Knowledgable, Visionary People

Posted Thu 11 October 2007 @ 11:48 a.m. by Ernie

Even as the government moves ahead with its "refresh" of the Digital Strategy, New Zealand continues to languish near the bottom of the developed world for broadband uptake. The consequences for our lifestyles and productivity are frightening, and our position continues to deteriorate. Many knowledgeable TUANZ members are alarmed about our inertia and passionate about the need for a step change. TUANZ will be holding a gathering early in November to address the...

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Inadequate Publicity Around Number Portability

Posted Wed 10 October 2007 @ 7:29 a.m. by Ernie

I empathise, absolutely, with Vodafone customer Emma Cooper who according to the Herald received a bill for $49.71 from Vodafone for a half hour local call. Emma dialled an 021 number which she assumed was another Vodafone customer and therefore free, without knowing that her friend had ported their phone to Telecom.For Vodafone to say "it is ultimately the responsibility of phone owners to tell their friends of their switch" is manifestly wrong. I agree that if a customer ports it...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Regulatory | Wireless carriers

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Who will pay for a fibre network?

Posted Tue 9 October 2007 @ 9:01 a.m. by Sarah

Two recent reports from HiGrowth and The New Zealand Institute into the necessity for a high-speed broadband fibre network have prompted some interesting commentary on who should pay for it. On Ernie’s post about The New Zealand Institute report, one reader comments that it’s up to Telecom to invest, while another suggests the government’s Superannuation Fund and Kiwi Saver as likely sources of funding for this kind of infrastructure. TUANZ member Mick Stracey Clitherow wrote to TUANZ to...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Innovation

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Mobile Phone Content Code of Practice

Posted Fri 5 October 2007 @ 8:51 a.m. by Ernie

The TCF Code of Practice on Mobile Content has been in effect since 2005 and is due for a scheduled review. The Code self-regulates the principles under which mobile content services will be provided to ensure socially responsible behaviour. This includes an industry agreed position on the protection of minors from inappropriate content.If any TUANZ members want to express a view on the Code, please email Ernie Newman ernie@tuanz.org.nz so we can feed your comments back into the review process

Categories: Innovation | ISPs | TUANZ policy | Wireless carriers

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Online white pages – quotas for major users

Posted Fri 5 October 2007 @ 7:44 a.m. by Sarah

The Yellow Pages Group will block the IP server of any major user of their online database if it exceeds a specific quota. That’s the message from Chief Information Officer Karl Wright, who was responding to an enquiry from Downstream. Concerns were expressed by TUANZ members that strict and arbitrary restrictions are being imposed on corporate users. One user pointed out that in organisations with over 1000 employees, the high volume of traffic to the online White pages is due to the sheer...

Categories: Vendors

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Blog moderation

Posted Thu 4 October 2007 @ 12:32 p.m. by Sarah

Due to some potentially defamatory comments being posted on the TUANZ blogs we have had to reinstate the moderation facility. This means that before a comment can be published it will be read by a member of the TUANZ staff. Any readers wishing to post comments under a pseudonym are most welcome to do so. But please understand that if you choose a name that is an obvious reference to a high-profile member of the telecommunications community - and which can’t be substantiated - it won’t be published....

Categories: TUANZ policy

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ICT vacancies up, student enrolments down

Posted Wed 3 October 2007 @ 8:05 a.m. by Sarah

We’ve been told that there’s a skills crisis in ICT and some high profile TUANZ members have expressed concern about the difficulty in recruiting skilled staff - Telecom Wholesale, Fonterra and Agile are three that spring to mind. But at the same time as job vacancies have increased, we’re also told the numbers of students enrolling in tertiary ICT courses has declined. Anecdotal evidence is one thing, but in a skills shortage that has the potential to slow the creation of 21st century networks,...

Categories: Education | Fixed line carriers | ISPs | Vendors | Wireless carriers

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Fibre the way to go - NZ Institute quantifies broadband economic benefiits

Posted Mon 1 October 2007 @ 2:15 p.m. by Ernie

With all the other stuff around I’ve only today read the superb report of the New Zealand Institute – “Defining a Broadband Aspiration: How Much does Broadband Matter and What Does NZ Need?”Its sensational! The headline summary – national economic benefits from broadband in the range $2.7 billion - $4.4 billion per year – is truly exciting. It vindicates the passionate pro-broadband stand TUANZ has taken, based on mounting anecdotal evidence, practical knowledge, and the intuition of...

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