Palmerston North cable costs dispute

Asking residents to pay for burying cables would be an "arrogant raspberry" from the Palmerston North City Council, councillor Vaughan Dennison says.

Telecom has told the council that it will no longer place cables underground unless it is commercially viable, even if other utilities are putting in trenches for services.

It will put its cables underground only when a network needed replacing.

Mr Dennison said it would be unfair to ask residents to pay for a service other residents have had for free.

About 40 streets in the city have yet to have Telecom and other lines buried. The programme was due to be completed in 2006-2007, with costs shared by PowerCo, Telecom and the city council.

Individual costs per house range from $400 to $1300.