TUANZ

Vo-damn! A tale of ‘roaming robbery’

Posted Wed 19 November 2008 @ 3:11 p.m. by Louis

The cost of using mobile broadband overseas has one TUANZ member calling 'roaming robbery'.The Auckland businessman, who wishes not to be named, discovered recently that Vodafone data costs 100 times the price it does locally when roaming just across the Tasman.This is his story:“Last week I was working in Australia. I needed to access my e-mail, so decided to try my Vodafone Vodem. With the new high speed mobile broadband network, the service worked extremely well – downloading my 20 e-mails in...

New Zealand broadband build-out among the “most ambitious” in the world - Reynolds

Posted Wed 19 November 2008 @ 9:52 a.m. by Louis

Telecom CEO, Paul Reynolds, is claiming that New Zealand's current broadband build-out is “one of the most ambitious broadband programmes in the world”. According Computerworld.co.nz, Reynolds is making the claims in an interview with Television Hawke's Bay that airs tonight. In the interview, Reynolds reportedly says New Zealand has overtaken the UK in broadband and that services here are now the sixth cheapest in the world. He also claims that Telecom's own broadband services have improved...

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

Digital Dipton will make life easier for Bill English

Posted Tue 18 November 2008 @ 2:17 p.m. by Ernie

Bill English is to use Skype to stay in touch with the electorate, the Southland Times reports.Great! The more senior MPs who rely on broadband, the more awareness of the need to improve the reach and speeds.Bill will be able to use the SSC's Fibre Map to check out how his electorate is faring in the fibre race, and his constituents' can test their actual speeds on this speed test. I'm sure the politically-astute telcos will have mapped his home and made sure it is well served, but the...

“We value your ongoing custom…but it will cost you”

Posted Mon 17 November 2008 @ 4:31 p.m. by Louis

Shifting home – no one loves it, right? With all the packing and loading boxes and furniture onto a truck just to unload it all again a few kilometres down the road, it is just a hassle. Even getting movers in only serves to slightly reduce the hard labour part of the exercise. With all this physical activity going on, when it comes to the more virtual tasks of changing over power, insurance and – yeah, you guessed it – phone and internet accounts, most movers would expect this to be a relatively...

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

Joyce is new Comms and IT Minister

Posted Mon 17 November 2008 @ 3:34 p.m. by Ernie

Stephen Joyce has been named this afternoon as the new Minister of Communications and IT.His history suggests he'll bring a pragmatic, business-focused view to the role. His knowledge of electronic media, gained through a career as a highly successful broadcasting entrepreneur, will give him a head start. And the fact that he is also to be Minister of Transport will give him an interesting crossover to other forms of infrastructure.TUANZ welcomes him to the role and looks forward to a constructive...

Fibre - what's next?

Posted Fri 14 November 2008 @ 10:00 a.m. by Ernie

It's the $1.5 billion dollar, plus leverage, question. When do we start and what's the process?As National has acknowledged, they haven't put a lot of detail behind their proposals. This should surprise nobody - they've been in opposition and without access to the range of official advice their predecessors enjoyed.But the plans, concepts and intellectual grunt to make this happen, quickly and efficiently, are all out there scattered around the community.So in the event that I got a phone call inviting...

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

TUANZ - what's up?

Posted Fri 14 November 2008 @ 9:17 a.m. by Ernie

Lots happening here - some good, some sad!You might have read in the media that TUANZ and Internet NZ have entered into a formal collaborative discovery process to explore opportunities for closer organisational alignment. Here's the full statement signed off by our Chairman Chris O'Connell and Internet NZ President Pete Macaulay.It's convergence-driven and makes heaps of good sense in my personal view!On an unrelated and sadder note, with the international financial meltdown the forecast...

Thanks, David Cunliffe

Posted Mon 10 November 2008 @ 2:42 p.m. by Ernie

So the Labour-led government has gone - and with it for the moment at least, David Cunliffe as Minister of Communications. Cunliffe will be missed. Seriously.Like any business organisation TUANZ membership embraces a range of political colours. Yet through all the frenetic action and controversy of these last few years it has been hard to find anyone with a serious criticism of Cunliffe as Minister. No matter how blue their tie or yellow their jacket, I've found TUANZ members have regarded him with...

Ultra Fast Broadband is on the way!

Posted Mon 10 November 2008 @ 1:52 p.m. by Ernie

Quote:"There's one modern technology that stands out in terms of its ability to:- draw us closer to our trading partners- put kiwis at the forefront of technological innovation- greatly enhance the way we do business and the way we communicateThat thing is ultra-fast broadband for all New Zealanders."Those words were John Key's. They led to an announcement of the very first economic commitment made by the National Party for this year's General Election - $1.5 billion for fibre. They come from...

Blog help is on the way!

Posted Fri 7 November 2008 @ 8:18 a.m. by Ernie

Next Monday will be a really important day for New Zealand in two ways.First, there'll be a new government in some shape or form.Second, at long last I'll have a new Blogging Buddy. As my loyal reader may have spotted, I've been largely on my own here since Sarah left a month ago.I'm about to be joined by Louis van Wyk, who joins the staff of TUANZ on Monday. Louis is well known within the industry from his former role with Fairfax Business Media, where he is Editor of Reseller News, the sister...

TUANZ unveils national digital architecture proposal

Posted Tue 4 November 2008 @ 9:32 a.m. by Ernie

TUANZ is this morning unveiling our new publication "Towards a national digital architecture." A follow up to our Manifesto last March that called for public investment in broadband alongside the industry, the new "green paper" sets out headings for an umbrella document. It notes that in the "old order" Telecom effectively made architectural decisions behind the scenes on behalf of the whole country, but with a new diverse base of investors including lines companies, non-traditional private investors...

Tauranga - what's wrong with broadband there?

Posted Tue 4 November 2008 @ 8:34 a.m. by Ernie

That's the question posed by serial software entrepreneur and award-winning founder of Xero, Rod Drury.It seems a lot of accountants in that city who use the Xero product are complaining, and Rod is curious to know why. "We’ve done a huge amount of work to make sure our application is fast as it leaves our servers, he says, "but sometimes get speed complaints from parts of the country and Tauranga seems especially bad." Tauranga has had a chequered history in telecommunications, including...

National broadband map - a posting from TUANZ Chair Chris O'Connell

Posted Mon 3 November 2008 @ 11:12 a.m. by Ernie

Something that was unimaginable just 2 years ago has happened today, and in practical terms it is one of the most visible actions of the refreshing new attitudes to be found in the revitalised Telecom! If you go to the State Services Commissions excellent broadband map you will see the entire Telecom fibre optic network listed! Once this was regarded as the most commercially sensitive data and best guess was all you could do if you wanted to know what was already in the ground either locally or...

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Telecomms disputes resolution - NZ a world leader?

Posted Thu 30 October 2008 @ 12:09 p.m. by Ernie

I've spoken on here a few times about TUANZ's very positive view of the Telecommunications Disputes Resolution Service and accompanying industry code of practice on complaints handling - both developed by the TCF with active support from TUANZ.My perspective was reinforced a couple of weeks ago at the APECTel meeting, at which I moderated a session on Stakeholder Engagement and Consultation. My part dealt specifically with mechanisms for handling consumer complaints. (Check out page 5 of this...

Doing more with what we've got

Posted Thu 30 October 2008 @ 10:01 a.m. by Ernie

Doesn't it all feel a bit surreal? Here all are, sitting at our desks and trying to forecast and plan for 2009 and beyond while the world's economic foundations seem to be in the midst of a force 10 quake.Bernice Archer of our TUANZ team was at an international contact centre conference a few weeks ago. She reported back that the theme she picked up from delegates was that everyone expects to have to do more with what they've got. They weren't predicting a flash year ahead in terms of budgets and...

Good broadband news for the long weekend!

Posted Fri 24 October 2008 @ 12:08 p.m. by Ernie

Its always nice to go away for a long weekend with good news, and the folk at the OECD in Paris have co-operated. They've released overnight their latest broadband stats showing that New Zealand, while still remaining at 19th in the OECD for per capita penetration, is now 6th for growth.As we move toward more innovative and productivity-improving uses in fields like heath, education, care of the aged, and teleworking, that is excellent news. A feather in the cap of Telecom, the rest of the industry,...

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

Healh and IT - an opportunity awaits

Posted Fri 24 October 2008 @ 9:00 a.m. by Ernie

This week's news that three patients who needed quick health treatment suffered setbacks because their records were lost in transit between District Health Boards is a wake-up call. Clearly the huge opportunities IT offers for a more efficient health system have yet to be captured.Why, in 2008, are DHBs and the health system generally so addicted to sticking hard copy in envelopes and licking stamps? Surely health, of all sectors, is crying out for the immediacy and efficiency of all-electronic processes.Wednesday's...

Categories: Events | Fixed line carriers | Innovation | Vendors | Wireless carriers

Kawau Island – idyllic, but something major’s missing

Posted Fri 24 October 2008 @ 8:47 a.m. by Ernie

I’m indebted to a former school mate Michael Marris, a resident of Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf, for this real life story of a local community that desperately wants broadband. (Michael claims to remember me in short pants, which shows how old he must be.) There’s no fixed line broadband facility on Kawau. In some places 3G works. There are a few satellite installations but they are seen to be slow, expensive and directionally limited. There are several discrete pockets of settlement on the...

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

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Peer review of regulator's decisions - Reynolds throws a curved ball

Posted Fri 24 October 2008 @ 7:55 a.m. by Ernie

In a wide-ranging interview with award-winning journalist Jenny Keown of The Independent, Dr Paul Reynolds has made a call for a merits-based review process sitting above the role of the Commerce Commission.His appeal seems to have come from nowhere. Elsewhere in the interview he speaks positively about several issues, describing the government reform of Telecom in 2006 as "strong and appropriate." And he talks sensibly about a need to strip away old layers of regulation - TUANZ would certainly...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | Regulatory | TUANZ policy

A powerful and very welcome message from Telecom

Posted Fri 17 October 2008 @ 4:31 a.m. by Ernie

Telecom's announcement that at last the "go" button has been pushed on the long-awaited CDMA network is notable and welcome for three reasons.First, because it will improve markedly the mobile options available to New Zealanders. Despite the battle of words between Telecom and Vodafone - with one saying it will be "New Zealand's best network" and the other dismissing it as "catch up" - the fact that Telecom is introducing world class technology will sharpen the performance of both companies.Second,...

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

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Rural uses of connectivity - lessons from Peru

Posted Wed 15 October 2008 @ 4:26 a.m. by Ernie

I’m in Lima, Peru this week doing my 6-monthly stint at APECTel, the telecommunications working group of the APEC economies. Its always a rich opportunity to get away from the day-to-day pressures and re-energise with updated experiences from other places, as well as refreshing TUANZ’s international network of contacts. I’m here representing the International Telecommunications Users Group, INTUG. New Zealand is represented by Dr Peter Crabtree from the MED.Yesterday INTUG coordinated an “Industry...

Categories: Events | Fixed line carriers | Innovation | Vendors | Wireless carriers

Telework - the way of tomorrow, really good for you and your team

Posted Wed 8 October 2008 @ 3:10 p.m. by Ernie

Get used to the word "Telework." Its going to be in everyone's vocabulary over these coming months. Because:- TUANZ has written a paper on it for members and is about to launch an introductory event called Teleworking 2008- The government is keen as mustard all of a sudden, with Teleworking even featuring in the Digital Strategy 2.0- There are huge benefits for employers, employees, and the planetHere's a really short, simple summary from "Wired" of why teleworking's a great idea whose time...

Broadband "quality and capacity divide" - NZ 35th out of 42 countries

Posted Sun 5 October 2008 @ 5:15 p.m. by Ernie

Not good! According to this report from Oxford University's Said Business School, New Zealand is eighth worst of 42 countries measured for broadband speeds. The ones behind us are Malta, Iceland, Brazil, Cyprus, Mexico, China and India. Australia came in eight places ahead of us.“The broadband gap can no longer be seen as a penetration divide,” Professor María Rosalía Vicente from University of Oviedo pointed out. “It is also a quality and capacity divide, and therefore, a divide in the range of...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | ISPs | Wireless carriers

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Farewell, Malcolm Alexander

Posted Fri 3 October 2008 @ 6:33 a.m. by Ernie

It was a sociable and interesting evening. A farewell dinner last night to acknowledge Malcolm Alexander's departure as Independent Chair of the Telecommunications Carriers Forum, held in a bit of style at Dine Restaurant at the Sky City Grand here in Auckland.The entire TCF Board was there along with a handful of others. The 100% turnout was testimony to the respect Malcolm is held in. They're a fun group that interacts well - n the early days you'd have had to agonise over the seating...

Categories: Fixed line carriers | ISPs | Wireless carriers