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State-owned telco Orcon has flicked the switch on a new era of competition for broadband but bigger business rivals at Telecom's Xtra and Vodafone's ihug plan their own super-fast broadband packages.
Ihug has indicated it will offer its own ADSL 2 fast internet services by midyear.
Telecom - which is developing its own strategy for replacing outdated broadband speeds - will not say when it will offer comparable fast broadband.
Orcon - owned by state-owned Kordia - yesterday became the first company to offer unbundled services from its networks. These are based at five Auckland telephone exchanges - Glenfield, Browns Bay, Ellerslie, Mt Albert and Ponsonby.
The change means that for the first time consumers can have a phone line but no relationship with Telecom.
Orcon hopes to set up its fast networks offering speeds of up to 24 megabits per second in a further 10 exchanges by May.
Chief executive Scott Bartlett says Orcon will be able to offer services to 300,000 Auckland homes by the end of the year then expand to other cities.
He said the launch marked the end of Telecom's 70-year phone monopoly and a phoney war where internet providers could provide services only by using Telecom's outdated equipment. He said the broadband speeds - three times faster than those available from Telecom - would allow Orcon to develop internet entertainment and compete with Sky TV.
These new developments were to be revealed in two months but he insisted deals for rights content were already set.
Orcon's new plans include $79.95 a month for a 10GB data cap and no phone line to $99.95 a month for a 10GB cap, unlimited free local and national calling, voicemail, call waiting and caller ID, with unlimited international calls to one of 15 countries for $10 extra a month.
A third plan is $119 a month for a 25GB cap, unlimited free and national calling, all the calling extras plus the option to call 14 more countries for $10 a month and a free wireless router.
Ralph Chieves of the Telecommunications Carriers Association - which represents industry players including Telecom - said the Orcon offer marked an exciting development for the industry.
Telecom spokesman Mark Watts said the Orcon launch showed local loop unbundling - in which the Government has forced to Telecom to open up access to copper wires into homes - was working.
But critics still argue Telecom's plans to take fibre-optic cables to roadside cabinets closer to people's homes, bypassing the main exchanges, were diminishing prospects for true competition.
