Telecom considers wider local zones

By PETER GRIFFIN

Telecom has given the first hint that it may look to broaden its free local calling areas, allowing phone users to make calls over greater distances without being charged a toll rate.

Telecom's chief executive, Theresa Gattung, said she was in the "early days" of looking at changes to Telecom's free-calling policy.

"What I've challenged my team to do is to look at the potential options involving working with regional communities to promote broadband growth and bring down calling costs," Gattung told the Herald.

That points to Telecom rewarding parts of the country that take up its high-speed internet services with larger free-calling zones.

Telecom splits the country into dozens of local calling areas. Greater Auckland is divided into six calling regions - Auckland, Great Barrier Island, Helensville, Hibiscus Coast, Pukekohe and Warkworth.

"We understand that for some customers, local call boundaries are an issue," said Gattung.

She said it was possible that regions that had backed Telecom as a provider in the Government's Project Probe broadband initiative could be offered larger free-calling zones as they bought more Telecom services.

But Telecom also appears to be moving to counter competition from emerging wireless broadband providers who have talked about launching telephone services with large free-calling areas.

Opening up free-calling areas would have to be done in a "neutrally beneficial way", said Gattung. In other words, Telecom will embark on this route only if it is sure greater uptake of high-speed internet services will counter loss in revenue from offering more free calls.