Jet-speed surfing set to take off

By RICHARD BRADDELL

The world wide web will be portrayed in unflattering terms in coming months - by none other than the people who provide access to it.

The letters www are already being depicted as standing for "Why are we waiting?" as high-speed internet providers flex their muscles on the next telecommunications battleground.

Broadband access - the ability to connect to the internet up to 10 times faster than the standard 56k modems - is about to deliver the web's promise of being the convergence point for television, telephony and many other things.

Residential broadband was introduced more than a year ago at much the same time by Telecom and Wellington's Saturn Communications. Walker Wireless and Ihug have also entered the market.

But it has probably fewer than 10,000 clients out of a population of internet users estimated by research house IDC at 848,000.

That is changing quickly. A few months ago Telecom was predicting perhaps 4500 users for its Jetstream high-speed access technology. It now claims 6500.

Other companies are not giving figures. But while Jetstream's recent surge owes much to marketing and temporary specials, Telecom spokesman Glen Sowry says competitors' marketing has also stimulated interest.

In the past two months, Telstra Saturn associate Chello has launched a broadband service based on Saturn's Wellington network. Saturn has been offering broadband, mostly to small business customers, for the last year.

On the residential side, it claims about 1000 cable-modem, high-speed connections. It has also been offering Telecom's Jetstream through Paradise, the internet service provider subsidiary it acquired before its merger with Telstra.

Blair Glubb, Telstra Saturn's general manager of marketing and programming, reckons Jetstream connections sold through Paradise may account for as much as 10 per cent of Telecom's business.

But he refuses to reveal how much business Chello has picked up since its launch, other than to say it is on budget.

One of the key features of high-speed internet is that no single technology is likely to do the job. Although the spread of broadband providers in New Zealand lags behind the United States, Telecom has beaten its Australian counterpart, Telstra, in providing residential broadband through xDSL, technology that makes it possible to use ordinary copper wire for high-speed services.

Telstra Saturn/Chello is using cable modems on Saturn's cable television network, although Saturn has not ruled out also offering xDSL in the future.

The catch for Aucklanders is that Saturn may not be available for another two years, although Christchurch customers should be able to use it by the end of the year.

The two other residential broadband providers, Walker Wireless and Ihug, use mainly wireless to deliver their services.

Walker has focused on the business market, but also offers a residential internet service as well. Chief executive Paul Ryan says the firm planned to offer services in 12 cities, but the response has been so strong that it has only got to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch so far.

Mr Ryan will not give figures, but other sources suggest Walker may have about 1000 mostly business customers.

Ihug offers a wireless service to much of Auckland from the Sky Tower, with the return path by telephone line. In other areas, it delivers via satellite, the return path again requiring a telephone link.

Two factors are cited for slowing the spread of broadband. The first is that carriers are not falling over themselves to stimulate demand until Telecom's Southern Cross cable is working, probably in November.

Southern Cross will increase capacity about 80 times, relieving severely congested links with the rest of the world and probably also halving bandwidth costs - which is the other slowing factor.

Industry views on the price needed to attract residential users in large numbers vary from $100 a month down to $70, which should be achievable if the promised effect of Southern Cross filters through.

New Zealanders could be on their way to a bargain when compared with the ADSL service launched last week by British Telecom, which charges 99.99pounds ($329) a month.

The British installation fee of 260 pounds compares with about $100 offered by some New Zealand providers.

If high-speed internet pricing does settle at $70 a month, it should be attractive for heavy web users, particularly if they can avoid the $30 to $40 cost of a second telephone line.