TUANZ - Telecomunications Users Association Of New Zealand

TUANZ - Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand

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Local government stepping up - everywhere!

Posted Fri 29 February 2008 @ 11:37 a.m. by Ernie

I’ve been dosing up big time on fibre, and its incredibly energising. Last week I went to Local Government NZ’s Broadband Forum in Wellington – an impressive 2-day gathering organised with strong support from Internet NZ. There was a huge buzz. Around 200-300 people, all of them concerned about telecommunications and motivated to find creative ways to step up. Great sessions, well informed people, a strong sense of purpose, and relentless determination. Local government gets it. Proper telecomms...

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Operational Separation - TUANZ welcomes Minister's decision

Posted Fri 29 February 2008 @ 11:14 a.m. by Sarah

Communications Minister David Cunliffe announced today that he has rejected Telecom's amended separation plan. Minister Cunliffe says he is looking for greater clarity around incentives for Telecom Wholesale management, IP interconnection and a range of other technical and definitional matters. In response, TUANZ CEO Ernie Newman has just released a media statement. In it he praises the Minister's decision to seek further clarification on issues that could have a serious...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Regulatory | TUANZ policy

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Mobile Premium Messaging Services Code launched – hurray!

Posted Thu 28 February 2008 @ 9:54 a.m. by Sarah

The Telecommunications Carriers Forum (TCF) has announced it’s finalised the Code for Premium text messaging services. The aim of this voluntary Code is to give consumers confidence around using paid-for text services such as ringtones, txt2win games and operator chat. It’s a code that I am personally very pleased to see endorsed by the TCF Board, because I was one of those people who spent hours and hours drafting it. Together with representatives from mobile content service providers and...

Categories: Innovation | Regulatory | Vendors | Wireless carriers

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RMA issues and PPP funding – Cunliffe and Reynolds at the Local Government Broadband Forum

Posted Tue 26 February 2008 @ 5:27 p.m. by Sarah

In the debate over who will pay for the fibre networks in our cities and to our farms, the speeches delivered by Telecommunications Minister David Cunliffe and Telecom CEO Paul Reynolds at the Local Government NZ Broadband Forum last week make for interesting reading. Both mention the Resource Management Act and both suggest Public Private Partnerships as a viable investment model. In his speech Paul Reynolds reiterates the company’s cabinetisation programme, which he refers to as “one of New Zealand’s...

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

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News from Amsterdam

Posted Thu 21 February 2008 @ 3:08 p.m. by Sarah

Lately I’ve been touting the council-led Fibre To The Home (FTTH) project in Amsterdam as an example of how communities can build their own fibre networks. I wrote a couple of blogs about it last year.So it was great to see in the NZ Herald today, this same project being described by Peter Griffin in the Connect section of the Business Pages*: “As I walked through Amsterdam this week, the smell of dope in the winter air, I wasn’t paying much attention to the big trench running through the red brick...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Innovation | Vendors

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Pro-active move to attract ICT skills from Europe

Posted Tue 19 February 2008 @ 10:00 p.m. by Ernie

An accolade to the NZ Immigration Service, which is about to take the next step in a very positive initiative to attract people with ICT skills to New Zealand. CeBit, the world’s largest ICT trade show, will be held in Hanover early in March. For the second year, the Immigration Service and New Zealand recruitment firm Hudson, are joining with NZ Trade and Enterprise to use part of the New Zealand pavilion as a means to promote New Zealand as a great destination for European ICT professionals. A...

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Road trip to Central North Island Councils

Posted Tue 19 February 2008 @ 7:44 a.m. by Sarah

For two days last week I travelled around the central North Island visiting six district councils to discuss telecommunications and the role that TUANZ has in promoting the user perspective. It was of course a two-way conversation and it was fascinating to hear about some of the issues facing councils and their communities in rural and remote areas. This is what I learned: IT Managers are well aware of the connectivity issues that plague their communities and in many cases the challenge is for...

Categories: Events | TUANZ policy

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Italy joins the operational separation movement

Posted Tue 19 February 2008 @ 6:00 a.m. by Ernie

Telecom Italia has announced a voluntary move to operational separation through the creation of a new internal division called Technology and Operations. This will split off responsibilities for the basic network and technological infrastructures.Some 20,000 people will be moved to the new Division, organised into four Areas: Open Access, Network, Information Technology and Technical Infrastructures.Whilst OpenReach in the UK was formed under pressure and guidance form regulator OFCOM, and Chorus...

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

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SOS - please does somebody have 50 metres of cable?

Posted Mon 18 February 2008 @ 8:32 a.m. by Ernie

TUANZ gets a lot of desparate customers appealing for help, but this letter from Gerard Reid, Managing Director of GA Pindar and Son NZ caught my interest:Dear Ernie, I am writing to you in desperation. (We will join yourassociation next week as a result of what we are experiencing.) Weare moving premises to Great North Road from Freemans Bay and we have been attempting to get the fibre optic cable that is outside the building connected to our newly renovated premises. After weeks and weeks...

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Vector twinning with Vodafone - good news for Auckland!

Posted Fri 15 February 2008 @ 11:44 a.m. by Ernie

So Vodafone is to be a major user of Vector's (now) 500km fibre network around Auckland! The Herald has the story well covered.Its excellent news for users -specifically in Auckland, and generally nation-wdie.For Auckland it means choice of supplier and better speeds. And probably a big kick in the backside for Telecom to signal that if it doesn't want to lose major market share it had better get on with its long awaited investment in cabinetisation PDQ.Nation-wide, it is a powerful affirmation of...

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

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FTTH a selling point in real estate

Posted Wed 13 February 2008 @ 9:10 p.m. by Sarah

'Fibre Optic broadband' isn’t usually a feature of real estate advertising, so when I saw these words flash across the TV screen during an advert for an up market subdivision it caught my eye. The owners of Kensington Properties who’ve just built in Orewa, north of Auckland, obviously think that Fibre To The Home (FTTH), and its promise of high-speed connectivity, will be a major selling point to prospective buyers. Particularly, as I understand, broadband has been something of a scarce commodity...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Innovation

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European roaming charges in the gun again

Posted Wed 13 February 2008 @ 5:28 a.m. by Ernie

EC Commissioner Viviane Reding has again taken European mobile operators to task about roaming charges across Europe, noting that the companies make up to 20 times more profits on roaming customers than on their domestic customers.“What I want to achieve is simple,” she said. “Sending text messages or downloading other data via a mobile phone while in another EU country should not be substantially more expensive for a consumer than sending text messages or downloading data at home. This is the logic...

Categories: TUANZ policy | Wireless carriers

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Greece takes the broadband bull by the horns

Posted Sun 10 February 2008 @ 8:51 a.m. by Ernie

The Greek government has announced it will spend 3 billion Euro (NZD5.2 billion) on a fibre optic network to 2 million homes. It will be in place by 2013.Greece, of course, had to do something about broadband. Its among only seven developed countries with lower broadband penetration than New Zealand - and well behind. There's a message here for us. Greece has about two and a half times New Zealand's population with a population density around five times ours. But this cost estimate...

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Skills shortage being addressed across the ditch

Posted Wed 6 February 2008 @ 9:21 a.m. by Ernie

While the ICT skills crisis is as much of an issue in Australia as in NZ, it seems the Aussies are well ahead of us in addressing it.This week the Australian government announced a new ICT Apprentice Programme that will deliver up to 60 jobs for young people in government agencies.Sixty jobs isn't a lot. But at least it's a start. And it will provide a powerful signal that the government places value on such skills and encourage many more young people to consider an ICT career.The initiative seems...

Categories: Education

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Dropped calls

Posted Tue 5 February 2008 @ 6:01 p.m. by Sarah

At TUANZ we’ve noticed that the number of mobile calls that 'drop out' in mid conversation when driving around Auckland – and the North Shore in particular – appears to be on the increase. At first Ernie and I thought people were hanging up on us - but after hearing complaints about dropped calls in three separate conversations in one day, it appears the problem might lie with the mobile service provider.We’ve noticed that dropped calls occur most frequently around the Harbour Bridge,...

Categories: Wireless carriers

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Go-Large - prosecution won't solve the real problem

Posted Sat 2 February 2008 @ 3:40 p.m. by Ernie

The Commerce Commission's decision yesterday to prosecute Telecom for misleading advertising of "Go Large" was inevitable. It had to be done to redress the inconvenience and cost caused to many people, But sadly, it won't do anything to deal with the real issue."Go Large" as promoted was the product every on line New Zealander wanted - maximum speeds, uncapped, as fast as you can go. But the sad reality is that Telecom's network was never going to have anywhere the capacity to...

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Statistics - Vodafone were right!

Posted Sat 2 February 2008 @ 3:28 p.m. by Ernie

It's official. Vodafone NZ's claim this week that its prices have crossed into the lower half of the OECD have been verified by the OECD, and Telegen who produce the statistics.I have a message from Telegen, via the OECD, as follows:"I have now had a chance to check the Vodafone calculations, and they are correct. The reason I could not get them to match initially was that there are three tariff packages that are not included in the November update as they should have been, and they come out as the...

Categories: Innovation | TUANZ policy | Wireless carriers

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Separation Plan May be Rejected - Minister

Posted Fri 1 February 2008 @ 6:47 a.m. by Ernie

Minister Cunliffe has this morning issued a statement saying he is not ruling out rejection of Telecom's draft separation plan. This was one of the steps recommended by TUANZ in our submission."The submissions have raised some significant issues that I will be giving serious and careful consideration to before making my decision,” Mr Cunliffe said. “While I am conscious of the need to progress the operational separation process as quickly as possible, I am carefully considering all options...

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

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