KEY POINTS:
It was a daunting task for Telecom's general manager of wholesale, Matt Crockett, to face his critical customers and convince them that the company was serious about opening up its network.
But he was surprised to find that the company's rivals who had spent years in combat with Telecom gave him a "fair go".
"I think we all surprised ourselves when we got in a room together. The thing that struck everyone was the differences in opinion were not as great as people presumed," he said.
Crockett, 37, was appointed to head the wholesale operation of Telecom in June, soon after the Government announced it would force Telecom to make its phone and internet network available to other competitors in a process known as local loop unbundling.
In December the Government passed legislation that will split Telecom into three units: retail, network and wholesale.
The wholesale unit is where most of the change will occur as Telecom opens its network up to competitors.
So Crockett's role as the middle man between the industry and the company is vital. Telecom needs to show it is taking its wholesale customers seriously.
He is under enormous pressure from the industry to make quick progress on providing Telecom's wholesale customers with access to its network and broadband without the need to have a Telecom phone line - known as naked DSL.
But he believes no one fully understood the implications of the split of Telecom and the right way to do it.
"I would hate to have been a part of what ends up being something that really damages this industry and ... the country.
"It could go either way, and at the moment, it's an exciting place to be operating, to make sure they are good outcomes not bad outcomes from these changes."
Crockett believes he can best engage with competitors through two Telecommunications Carrier Forum working parties set up in September.
One party is focusing on developing the operational standards for unbundling and naked DSL, while the other is developing technical standards for the services.
A major challenge was that the company was being "pushed and pulled" in various directions as it was split open. He said it was important the Government and the Commerce Commission were well aligned around the priorities of operational separation.
The forum sent a proposal two weeks ago to the Commerce Commission ago that a basic naked DSL service be introduced before local loop unbundling.
"It's the fastest product we can build," said Crockett.
"Local loop unbundling is realistically about 16 months away."
Meanwhile Telecom - like the rest of the information technology industry - was struggling to recruit qualified staff.
"There is a little bit of a perception that Telecom has lots of money, and we will open the chequebook and people will just appear," Crockett said.
But overall, he said he was inspired by the industry's desire and confidence to work together and self-regulate.
