Telecom says surpasses broadband target in 2005

Telecom said today its number of residential broadband connections hit 279,000 at the end of last year, surpassing its target of 250,000.

Telecom had to hit the target by the end of last year, with about a third of those, or around 83,000, to come from competitors under UBS and wholesale broadband plans.

But Telecom said today just 63,000 of the new residential connections were wholesale customers, up from 7000 a year ago.

Wholesale connections grew from 23 per cent of new customers in the first quarter of 2005, to 47 per cent in the last quarter of the year. Over the full year wholesale connections made up 36 per cent of new connections.

Telecom chief executive Theresa Gattung said broadband should continue to grow in 2006.

"We're pleased that the agreement we reached with TelstraClear last month will see our biggest fixed line competitor ramp up its broadband activity," she said.

Telecom and TelstraClear made a deal last month which agreed on interconnection prices, access to broadband and the wholesaling of services such as residential landlines, ending a long-running commercial dispute.

Telecom also agreed to pay TelstraClear a one-off $17.5 million to settle a number of long standing issues.

- NZPA