Talking up value of fibre in Hawke's Bay

UnisonFibre's free fibre connections are worthwhile just for telephone call savings alone, says Ben Keehan of Talkmore.

"The cost of three standard telephone lines for a business is around $120 per month. Then there is the cost of local calls - say $40, then there's toll calls which can be in the hundreds plus broadband and email charges," he said.

Talkmore is offering three telephone lines with 6000 local minutes and 300 national minutes for $249 per month.

With uncapped internet included in the deal, it appears bigger firms have competition.

Mr Keehan said data caps, limits on how much data a customer could use, were counter to the new internet ethos.

"We think data caps are wrong.

"There are no extra costs to ISPs on the quantity of data - companies are profiteering."

He said Hawke's Bay businesses should seize the chance to sign up to Unison's free deal, to make up for Kiwi conservatism.

"In the past Kiwis have been slow to adapt - often that has been about infrastructure. Now that infrastructure has caught up we can use all those great new things fibre can bring to business, at no greater cost than what companies are paying for inferior copper technology."

Talkmore, based in Whakatu, is an example of changing technology creating opportunities for the quick.

Mr Keehan worked for Vodafone as a Business to Business consultant just one year ago. He is also an authorised B2B Consultant for mobile company Choice Mobile, 2Degrees and has entered into a strategic alliance with Virtual Infrastructure Professionals (VIP).

VIP announced last week it will initially invest $250,000 over the next three months to provide Hawke's Bay companies with cloud hosting services, thanks to UnisonFibre's rollout.

UnisonFibre has installed over 140km of fibre in Hastings, Napier and Havelock North and is offering free connections to organisations that register at www.getonit.co.nz or www.talkmore.co.nz/index.php/ultra-fast-internet/

While there are considerable dollar savings on telephone calls, the real worth of the move was for the potential of fibre, Mr Keehan said. "They're not dumb old phone lines anymore, they're unlimited."