CallSouth to take on telco giants

Market minnow CallSouth is taking on the big guns with a full landline telephone service.

The Oamaru-based company has secured a deal with Telecom allowing it to resell the market leader's telephone line rental and related services like call waiting and call minder.

CallSouth has been providing toll call and internet products to customers around the country for the past five years.

Chief executive Peter Roborgh says the launch represents an exciting move towards CallSouth securing a significant portion of the residential landline market.

He declined to reveal CallSouth's turnover or number of customers, but said it had customers from Kaitaia to Bluff.

The low-profile company, formed in October 2000, is owned by four South Islanders, who Mr Roborgh wouldn't name.

Telecom's biggest competitor is TelstraClear, which has 50,000 customers.

The margin for reselling Telecom's line rental is low -- 2 per cent under the Telecommunications Act. Attempts by TelstraClear and telco regulators to force Telecom to unbundle its local loop have so far failed.

"We've launched this service as a result of demand from our existing toll call and internet customers who see benefits in a smaller more customer focused company meeting all their communications needs," Mr Roborgh said.

CallSouth line service charges are based around the principal "the more you talk, the more you'll save on line rental" and are highly competitive when compared to other telephone line companies, Mr Roborgh said.

- NZPA