Telecom not rushing into 3G network

By RICHARD BRADDELL and REUTERS

Telecom has no immediate plans to follow its Australian mobile partner, Hutchison, with a third generation network here.

Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) said yesterday that it had contracted with Ericsson to build a $A830 million ($1.06 billion) third generation mobile network covering the major Australian cities.

Telecom spokeswoman Linda Sanders said a similar contract was not in the immediate future here as the company believed it could offer most of the third generation services using the second generation CDMA network it was launching.

An add-on to CDMA, known as 1XRTT, is expected to provide comparable or better data and internet services than those that will be offered over rival Vodafone's new 2.5 generation GPRS network.

Telecom is injecting $A250 million for a 19.9 per cent stake in Hutchison's Australian third generation network, while Hutchison has an option to take 19.9 per cent in an equivalent New Zealand venture for $NZ250 million, exercisable 12 to 24 months after commercial launch of 3G services in New Zealand.

No decision had been made to roll out 3G in New Zealand, but Ms Sanders said it was "definitely on our radar screen."

Telecom had previously said it would embark on 3G if Vodafone did.