KEY POINTS:
Telecom and internet service provider WorldxChange have unveiled their pilot project in Orewa, north of Auckland, allowing super-fast fibre-optic broadband into new apartment buildings and subdivisions.
Fibre-optic cable provides the fastest services but the cost of laying it in established locations has limited its rollout.
Politicians are battling
over which party has the best plan to improve broadband services, with National in particular focused on fibre-optic cable.
The new project at the Kensington Park housing development provides a glimpse of what some say will be the future of super-fast telecommunications services.
Significantly, Telecom says it will be open access and other providers will be able to get their signals into homes.
Telecom has been working on a scheme to take fibre-optic lines to cabinets in neighbourhoods so residential customers can link their slower copper-wire services to fibre-optic.
In the trial announced last week for the new apartment buildings, developers at Kensington Properties are taking fibre-optic cable directly into homes and using a WorldxChange home modem installed in garages.
Telecom Wholesale says once completed the scheme will be expanded to 13 more projects serving 3500 households.
It is testing two variants of broadband over fibre which will provide either a voice-only service or broadband (including voice), which will support download speeds up to 30 megabits per second (Mbps) and an upload speed of 6Mbps.
Vodafone - which is Telecom's biggest competitor now that it has been forced to open up networks to competitors - said the service appeared to offer an alternative to customers.
But spokesman Paul Brislen said some developers were looking to move away from fixed-lined connections.
SPLIT-UP TELECOM DIVISIONS MUST SHOW SEPARATE ACCOUNTS
Telecom will have to provide financial information about its separated business units under a draft plan issued yesterday by the Commerce Commission.
The Government has pushed for the separation of Telecom into wholesale, retail and network divisions to boost competition and investment in broadband infrastructure, and the operational split was approved in March.
Under the commission's accounting separation proposal, Telecom would be required to release financial information about its business units including retail, wholesale, Chorus (fixed network access) and other fixed network services.
"This information ... will provide improved transparency, identify any cross-subsidies and support non-discrimination," said Telecommunications Commissioner Ross Patterson.
"In doing so, it will complement the non-financial reporting required by the operational separation undertakings."
Under the draft paper, the first financial information will be released in the second half of 2009. Full, separated reporting will apply for the year July 2009 to June 2010.
- NZPA
