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Thread ID: 46052 2004-06-11 23:36:00 Telecom Internet Plans prove UnPopular with Providers csinclair83 (200) Press F1
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243876 2004-06-11 23:36:00 What do you guys reckon about this . . . Telecom's net plans unpopular with isps before its not even launched . . . . and sorry if this has been discussed before . . .


12 . 06 . 2004
By PAUL BRISLEN
Internet providers are crying foul over Telecom's proposed wholesale high-speed internet plan before it is even launched, saying they cannot make a profit from it .

Telecom has begun seeking comment from internet providers on the terms of its new wholesale product . The final service will be offered to the public from September .

One provider, who did not wish to be named, said the new service would have to attract "thousands of customers" to be profitable .

"On the basic plan we'd see a profit of about $14 per customer per month . Out of that we have to pay for backhaul, help-desk services, international traffic, any extras we want to offer like anti-spam filtering and so on . It's just not worth it . "

Providers are also concerned about Telecom's decision to impose a transfer fee of $150 for every Telecom customer who moves to a competitor, with one network operator describing it as a "tax on competition" .

"It's got to be anti-competitive . Surely everyone will see that," said the operator, who also did not wish to be named .

Internet provider Iconz would most likely pass the fee on to end users, said managing director Sean Weekes .

"It's not really much of an incentive to deliver thousands of customers . "

Telecom spokesman Martin Butler said the plans were designed to increase the overall number of broadband users .

"We've publicly said we want to reach 250,000 users by the end of next year and that around 30 per cent of those would come from our wholesale product .

"We are looking for new customers not a realignment of the existing customer base . "

Butler said the onus was on internet providers to use the basic service to differentiate themselves from one another and target niche markets .

"If they want to offer free national traffic or set up game servers to offer a gaming service then they can . "

One of the country's largest internet providers, ihug, said the wholesale programme would offer only minimal encouragement to providers to offer new services to customers .

"It's only wholesale for the one product," said general manager Guy Nelson .

"There's not enough money to make it worth our while and Telecom's already got a headstart on the customers that do want such a service because they're already signing them up today . "

TelstraClear will discuss the offer with Telecom next week and would not comment until then .

Auckland's Orcon Internet, the first company to sign up with Telecom's wholesale agreement, was generally positive about the offer, said chief executive Seeby Woodhouse .

"Telecom should be commended for going beyond what the Telecommunications Commissioner recommended to the Government . They've handed control of the customer to the provider instead of keeping it to themselves, which they could have done . "

But Woodhouse said he was unhappy about the $150 transfer fee, which would inhibit the delivery of broadband services by smaller providers .

"There's probably a capital expenditure of around $250,000 to get going in this business and really you need to aggressively target customers from day one .

"Having to pay a $150 fee upfront is going to limit the providers in that respect . "
csinclair83 (200)
243877 2004-06-11 23:56:00 Link to another article (computerworld.co.nz) - with a link in that article to the PDF explaining what it's about. Jester (13)
243878 2004-06-12 00:07:00 Chris,
Robo or Bruce has already spat the dummy @ people cut and pasting articles in this forum.

Is anyone else getting sick of reading negative stuff about Telecom in this forum?
Baldy (26)
243879 2004-06-12 00:09:00 Sorry for that..i didnt realise its preferred to link to articles so yeah...
will remember for next time... :)
csinclair83 (200)
243880 2004-06-12 00:50:00 Baldy>
I agree...

If I wanted to dig up dirt about Telecom, I'd go to the PC World or NZ Herald website.

Its almost as bad as hearing about all the "studies and research" Microsoft are doing to prove MS products are cheaper than competition....

It got boring yonks ago......
Chilling_Silence (9)
243881 2004-06-12 01:35:00 > Chris,
> Robo or Bruce has already spat the dummy @ people cut
> and pasting articles in this forum.
>
> Is anyone else getting sick of reading negative stuff
> about Telecom in this forum?

No.
BIFF (1)
243882 2004-06-12 01:46:00 > Is anyone else getting sick of reading negative stuff
> about Telecom in this forum?

Information is a tool, and this is relevant to most of us, I certainly aren't tired of being kept informed.
metla (154)
243883 2004-06-12 02:27:00 Well said Metla BootyLicious (526)
243884 2004-06-12 02:47:00 > > Is anyone else getting sick of reading negative
> stuff
> > about Telecom in this forum?
>
> Information is a tool, and this is relevant to most
> of us, I certainly aren't tired of being kept
> informed.

All depends how you use the tool I suppose :-P
Baldy (26)
243885 2004-06-12 02:50:00 and one may choose not to use the tool at all, if one so desires Jester (13)
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