Sprint competing in the local race for data traffic

By PETER GRIFFIN

American telecoms operator Sprint has set up shop in New Zealand with a small operation that will service multinationals, internet providers and other telcos.

Sprint has installed a network "node" in Telecom's Auckland facilities that will connect customers to Sprint's global IP (internet protocol) network allowing customers to shift data traffic around the world.

Sprint will offer network services in a similar fashion to other major communications companies AT&T and Equant, which also have small operations here.

Some staff will be hired locally to run Sprint's operation, but service and billing will be done overseas and Sprint engineers will be flown in when needed.

Sprint's managing director for Australasia, David Eagle, said the company had reserved capacity on the Southern Cross Cable, a major fibre connection linking New Zealand and Australia with the US.

"The capacity we've got is filling up fast and judging by demand from internet service providers and the like we may have to get more capacity within 12 months," he said.

Some customers had already been secured but Eagle would not reveal their names. Sprint's Australian operation services companies such as Nokia and ANZ.

Eagle said Sprint would not compete with Telecom and TelstraClear directly but it was after internet providers with broadband customers.

"For internet providers who really need a fast link to the United States, we can provide one of the quickest paths.

"A quarter of all the internet traffic goes across our network," he said.

There was the possibility that Sprint may wholesale telecoms services if an improvement in the telecoms wholesaling regime made that economically viable.