By PAUL BRISLEN
Telecom's bid to sign on 250,000 high-speed internet subscribers is in doubt after the Telecommunications Commissioner warned internet providers against signing up to the telco giant's wholesale offer.
Telecom has been discussing its wholesale service with the providers for the past two months and is poised to launch a trial with Auckland providers Orcon and ihug.
A commercial launch is expected next month.
The commission has warned that Telecom's offer "differs significantly" from the one it plans to regulate next month.
That raises doubts about Telecom's goal of having 250,000 subscribers by the end of next year.
Telecom has told the Government it will drive the uptake of broadband after the decision not to allow competitors unfettered access to Telecom's network.
The Government and the commission have said they will closely monitor Telecom's progress and could revisit the issue of "unbundling" Telecom's network.
Telecom's head of Government relations, Bruce Parkes, said the wholesale launch was now up in the air. "We'll press on with the trial but it does, potentially, delay the launch itself."
He said he was "surprised" by the commission's announcement as the company had not received any indication of unhappiness with the proposed wholesale service.
"This is the first we've heard from them on these issues."
The commission's manager of network access, Osmond Borthwick, would not comment on the detail of how Telecom's wholesale service differed from the watchdog's preferred model.
"At some point we may be called upon to determine the terms and conditions of the service, in which case we don't want to make any calls in advance of that."
Borthwick said that Telecom appeared to use its existing JetStream Surf retail service as a reference and that "acted as a kind of limit to the feature set that they offer to wholesalers".
TelstraClear's manager for Government relations, Grant Forsyth, said his company tried to negotiate a higher level of service with Telecom but was offered the same service as every other provider.
Commission slows Telecom's broadband dreams
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