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Telecom is close to appointing a manager to head up its new network division, says new chief executive Paul Reynolds. He expected to make an announcement "quite soon".
The soon-to-be-created access network service (ANS) unit forms part of the Government-imposed operational split-up of Telecom into three divisions - retail, wholesale and network.
The unit will be responsible for running Telecom's fixed network, between the local telephone exchange and customer premises and the regional backhaul network.
The new ANS manager will oversee the separately branded, stand-alone unit, reporting directly to Reynolds, but have a limitation on spending.
The unit will be required to sell services - namely local loop unbundling - to Telecom's own wholesale arm and other telco rivals at the same price and terms.
The unit would be created in two phases, the first of which was setting up the administrative side, due to be completed by "separation day" on March 31 next year, with the work to separate existing systems and create new systems scheduled to take until 2011.
"The bigger part of the work-though is re-engineering the databases and the computer systems that underpin Telecom's business," said Reynolds "That's a very complex process requiring a lot of investment itself and will take the next few years."
Figures released in Telecom's annual results put the cost of separation at $200 million in capital expenditure over the next four years, plus operational costs of up to $40 million a year for the same period.
Reynolds said no appointments had been made to senior roles left vacant by the departure of consumer head Kevin Kenrick and chief financial officer Marko Bogoievski.
