KEY POINTS:
Telecom customers in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin will be among the first to benefit from a $1.4 billion plan to improve broadband speeds, the company said today.
Telcom said fibre to roadside cabinets would be installed in the five centres over the next three years - shortening the length of copper used to deliver broadband and voice services to customers.
Broadband services slow when delivered over more than three kilometers of copper line.
The phone giant will spend tomorrow talking about the specifics of the rollout of more fibre with its wholesale customers, including TelstraClear, ihug, Orcon and CallPlus.
Telecom chief executive Paul Reynolds said the company was focussed on delivering a world class broadband footprint through the fast roll-out of its next generation network.
"The submission of our cabinetisation plans shows we are serious about delivering fast broadband to New Zealanders and giving them more choice," said Reynolds.
However, the plans have already prompted an angry response from Telecom's competitors.
CallPlus chief executive Martin Wylie said the move to run fibre to roadside cabinets made the business case for putting equipment into local exchanges (unbundling) uneconomic in the majority of cases.
He said telcos and the Commission had spent 18 months working on unbundling exchanges ahead of access to cabinets because this would quickly realise benefits to consumers.
"A programme of this scale will have been worked upon for over 12 months. Why on earth didn't Telecom disclose their plans? Why have we all wasted 18 months when we should have focussed on different issues? There is only one answer - the delay to competition suited Telecom," said Wylie.
On the web: www.ucll.co.nz/cabinetisation
