Telecom speeds up broadband

Telecom will roll out advanced broadband internet services capable of 24 megabits-a-second download speeds - 12 times faster than those now available - by Christmas.

The company is announcing today it will begin installation of the advanced services, known as ADSL2+, in June. Customer trials will begin soon after, with commercial plans to be offered by the end of this year.

Telecom spokesman John Goulter said the rollout would start in high-density urban centres, including Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and overall would cost between $150 million and $170 million.

He said it was too early to speculate on commercial prices, which would be determined after customer trials.

Telecom will offer video calling as part of the service and will test internet television too. Goulter said Telecom was negotiating with several content providers, but could not name them as nothing had been finalised.

"We would never see ourselves in the business of being content providers but we would be in partnership with others," he said.

The ADSL2+ service will be offered wholesale to resellers such as CallPlus and ihug. Ihug's parent iiNet introduced ADSL2+ services with 24 megabit speeds in Australia last year, starting at A$29.95 ($34.39) a month.

Goulter could not say what the upload speeds would be, but said download limits would change from existing offerings. "These sorts of speeds and services change the equation, so we'll be changing the plans accordingly."

Telecom will also go through with the service regardless of the outcome of the Government's regulatory review. One possible scenario is that the Government will force the unbundling of Telecom's local loop, which would give rivals access to its network, allowing them to provide ADSL2+ with their own equipment.

Goulter said Telecom was committed to ADSL2+ but the regulatory environment would be a factor in how far and fast it was rolled out.