More than one million New Zealand homes used broadband to connect to the internet in 2009.

New Zealand's government isn't trying to undermine Telecom by bolstering rural broadband services, Communications Minister Steven Joyce says.

Telecom's stock price hit an all-time low yesterday after it told the market that its share of the Government's new rural broadband initiative would cost it $168 million over three years.

A proposed optic fibre cable linking NZ, Australia and the USA would unleash billions of dollars of economic potential by connecting NZ businesses to global markets by 2013.

Up to $50m of yearly government subsidies to Telecom could be up for review if this morning's 111 outage is found to amount to a substandard service.

Still reeling from the XT debacle, Telecom must woo back disgruntled customers and rebuild its image.

Four Manila-based call centre staff have been suspended over abusive text messages sent to Telecom customers.