Telecom stock likely to be 'volatile for quite a while'

Telecom shares bounced back a little on Wall St on Friday night after the New Zealand market closed, but the stock's fall may not be over yet.

After closing at $4.72 on the New Zealand Exchange on Friday, Telecom rose to the equivalent of $4.82 a share in New York trading on Friday night, with around 6.4 million shares changing hands.

The rise is the first since the Government announced it would force Telecom to open its network to competitors. That announcement - after the local market's close on Wednesday - saw Telecom's shares slip from $5.55 and wiped around $1.6 billion off the market capitalisation of the company.

Despite Friday night's rise, Macquarie Equities director of investment Arthur Lim said Telecom could keep falling.

"The stock is going to be volatile for quite a while yet as the market grapples with the implications of the regulatory move by the Government," he said.

Putting a value on Telecom shares would not be possible for some time.

"It's going to be a bit of a stab in the dark at this stage to ascertain what the impact will be on Telecom's earnings over the next few years or so," he said.

While the Government has said it will force Telecom to share its network - known as unbundling the local loop - no decision has yet been made on how much Telecom will be allowed to charge its competitors for access.