Telecom is proposing two options for achieving the Government's ultra-fast broadband goals.
At the end of March, Communications and Technology Minister Steven Joyce announced public-private partnerships would be established to deliver ultra-fast broadband to 75 per cent of New Zealanders within 10 years.
The Government would establish a crown-owned investment company, Crown Fibre Investment Co (CFIC), to handle its investment.
CFIC would invest alongside private sector co-investors in regional fibre companies that would deploy and provide access to fibre optic network infrastructure in the 25 towns and cities covered by the initiative.
The broadband roll-out is a National election commitment and it has set aside up to $1.5 billion to achieve it.
Interested parties had until yesterday to make submissions on the proposal.
Today Telecom said one of its options would involve co-ordinating government investment with Telecom's current fibre network and future fibre plans, dramatically extending the reach of fibre optics throughout the country. That option would deliver the maximum amount of fibre.
The alternative option was to create a national network of ducts, owned by a crown fibre network company, which all network and service providers would have open access to. That asset would build on New Zealand's existing ducting and fibre assets, whoever owned them.
Prices would be set so that Telecom would not make a profit from the government component of any investment -- all the value would be returned straight to the country.
Telecom said that central to both its proposals was the ability to connect fibre to 2000 schools and all hospitals in the North and South Island within two years of work starting, with the remaining 600 schools connected six months later.
Telecom chief executive Paul Reynolds said schools would be able to form local broadband hubs, greatly increasing the opportunity of rolling out ultra-fast broadband into rural New Zealand.
Under Telecom's proposals, the 75 per cent fibre coverage area would include places such as Queenstown, Greymouth, Rangiora, Gore and Waiheke Island.
"Telecom's proposals are a combination of building on the 23,500km of fibre optic cable already in the ground and integrating the Government's $1.5b investment with Telecom's existing plans to extend the reach of fibre to more and more New Zealanders," said Reynolds.
Telecom said both its proposals build on existing fibre infrastructure, ensuring there was no duplication.
Prices would be set in advance and, along with open-access, would ensure fair competition among retail service providers.
Among other submissions on the government proposal is one from a group calling itself the New Zealand Regional Fibre Group, made up of lines companies and local fibre companies.
Members of the group include Vector, Aurora, Northpower, Wakiato-based WEL Networks, Unison, PowerNet, Christchurch City Networks, Network Tasman and Velocity Networks.
Vector chief executive Simon Mackenzie said the group's view was that the most effective means of achieving the Government's vision was through a nationally aligned, regionally based model based on transparent, open access principles.
The regional fibre group's membership spanned most of New Zealand, ensuring extensive broadband coverage, he said.
The group's submission had focused on two key areas, one that the funding model needed to stack up commercially to provide returns for investors.
The other key area was the need for a market structure to be created with low barriers to entry enabling open service competition to all segments of the market resulting in maximum customer choice.
- NZPA
See a Government Q & A on the broadband plan
