Telecom claims speed edge over rival

Stuntwoman Zoe Bell has joined the big-spending ad campaign for Telecom's XT Network. Photo / Supplied

Telecom claims independent testing of its new mobile network gives it the speed edge over rival Vodafone.

Speaking at the press launch of its device and pricing plan lineup, Telecom chief executive Paul Reynolds said British consultancy Red-M had independently tested data speeds and voice on the XT Network and Vodafone's mobile network.

"They have come to New Zealand and have proven demonstrably that Telecom's XT Network is the fastest in New Zealand and reaches further than any other network in the country," said Reynolds.

Telecom lags Vodafone in market share and share of revenue - at 47 per cent and 41 per cent respectively.

The XT Network has been live since November for testing with a limited number of customers and inbound roaming.

Reynolds promised even faster speeds by Christmas when the entire XT Network is upgraded to HSPA+ offering average download speeds of 4 megabits per second.

"The existing [CDMA] network already outperforms our competitors and XT takes us even further ahead of the game," he said.

He promoted Telecom's use of a single technology and frequency range countrywide.

Reynolds clearly stated a goal of being number one in the mobile market and boosting its share of revenue 10 percentage points.

National mobile manager for Telecom's Gen-i group Joe Caccioppoli said the company had 5000 new connections and "win-backs" already signed up to the XT Network.

"By the end of June we'll have at least 25,000 CDMA customers who've upgraded to XT devices," said Caccioppoli.

He said churn rates - customer turnover - were down in the past 12 months. The new device lineup was creating enormous interest among customers.

"There have been some perceived gaps around device types and roaming performance. Those issues are gone now," he said.

Telecommunications analyst Rosalie Nelson of IDC said overseas research had shown the requirement for high-speed data was driven, unsurprisingly, by the business market.

"The business market will prioritise network quality, availability and speed and coverage - particularly coverage - over cheapest plans."

Nelson said that when asked for the three top reasons for switching networks, businesses named network data speeds and quality, coverage, and uncompetitive or inflexible pricing.

She said a survey of New Zealand businesses showed 46 per cent would maintain their spending on wireless data and broadband this year and about 28 per cent planned to increase it in the next 12 months.

"But what was interesting was a further 20 per cent are undecided, so there's still a large market that can be captured."

Telecom Retail chief executive Alan Gourdie gave some detail on what consumers can expect from the new XT Network.

Although Gourdie held back on giving explicit pricing details, the company will release the new network with 14 plans rather than the 60 on offer on the existing CDMA network.

Telecom's new "one rate" plans do not differentiate between on- and off-peak call times, which network the call is made to or charge penalties for running over the monthly time allocations.

Prepay customers will pay per second for calls once they are over the first minute.

Based on a comparison Telecom has drawn with a Vodafone plan, customers could save 83c on a call lasting just over a minute.

Hollywood-based stuntwoman Zoe Bell and Veuve Clicquot businesswoman of the year, clothing designer Annah Stretton, will join Top Gear's Richard Hammond in the company's big-spending ad campaign.

Telecom shares closed up 3c at $2.62 yesterday.

STUTTERING START

May 1: Legal action by Vodafone claiming interference to its network from XT Network.

May 7: Vodafone and Telecom settle out of court and Telecom installs network filters.

May 13: Planned XT Network launch celebrated but network not officially live.

May 29: XT Network to go live.

May 31: Vodafone completes rollout of 3G network upgrade.