Telescum

Friday June 06, 2008

Broadband competition in New Zealand has heated up, with Vodafone today introducing its new, high-speed 'Red' network.

The launch of the ADSL2+ network has been made possible by 'local loop unbundling' - allowing companies to install their own equipment in Telecom exchanges - which began last year.

Vodafone chief executive Russell Stanners said the company had already unbundled over half of Auckland's exchanges, and would have completed all 41 by the end of the October.

See Full Story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10514815

Vodafone got a nasty regulatory surprise this week, when the Commerce Commission issued a draft determination on co-location and roaming. If the draft stands through to the final version, Vodafone may end up having to give access to its competitors, and allow them to put in equipment on its network sites.

Telecom is the pot accusing the kettle of being black by predicting Vodafone will be anti-competitive, when they start releasing Telecom simcards.

Telecom chief operating officer Mark Ratcliffe predicts Vodafone may try to prevent customers from switching to Telecom's W-CDMA mobile network when it is introduced next year without first buying a new phone.