3G developer keeps Telecom up with play

By RICHARD PAMATATAU in Sydney

Telecom has access to the intellectual property, processes and "learnings" behind new 3G applications and services offered by Australian mobile company Hutchison Telecommunications and could bring some of them to New Zealand.

Michael Young, Hutchison director of technology, infrastructure and services, said Telecom was "totally aware" of what Hutchison was doing and many things could be ported across the Tasman to Telecom's mobile network.

He said Telecom's chief technology officer, Murray Milner, and chief information officer, Mark Ratcliff, were on the board, and technical staff from Telecom regularly worked with Hutchison.

Young was speaking about "managed services" at a briefing in Sydney last week organised by its 3G technology partner, Ericsson Communications. Hutchison, 19.9 per cent owned by Telecom, launched its 3G network "3" this year and has already signed 50,000 customers.

Young refused to disclose which products and services being offered on 3 would be appropriate for New Zealand, saying everything depended on the business model Telecom was considering and what it believed customers want. The products and services cover content and delivery.

Young said Telecom's 027 network was capable of some of the products Hutchison offers such as video downloads, but video calling between mobile phones, or from a phone to a personal computer cannot be done yet in NZ.

Other products and services would depend on the network. Telecom is investigating what would be involved to change its present mobile network to the 3G standard used by Hutchison.

In Australia, 3 is offering video phone calls to customers in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and will launch a phone to PC video service before Christmas. The PC being called needs Microsoft's Netmeeting and a camera to receive the call.

Steve Wright, Hutchison stakeholder relations director, said 3 was targeting the youth market for its product and services and its own retail store strategy was "directional", with sharply designed stores and informed staff.

Customers who sign up before the end of this month will pay no more than A$99 ($114) a month for voice calls for the next two years on a deal which is attached to a number, not a mobile device.

Wright refused to comment on when AAPT, Telecom's Australian subsidiary, would take on a resale agreement to sell 3.

At the beginning of this month AAPT general manager Brett Chenoweth said that while it was not selling 3G services at the moment it was "doing quite a lot of planning and work with Hutchison to do that".



* Richard Pamatatau visited Hutchison in Sydney as a guest of Ericsson.