TelstraClear goes upwardly mobile

BY SARAH CATHERALL

TelstraClear is moving ahead with its plans to cross into the lucrative mobile market - a move that could finally lead to lower cellphone prices.

A recent court ruling forcing Telecom to wholesale its network now has the Australian-owned company eyeing up 40 per cent of New Zealand's landline market.

But it doesn't want to stop there.

Although it has never operated its own cellular network in New Zealand, instead acting as a reseller for Vodafone, moves are now well afoot to build its own network.

TelstraClear has not yet chosen a technology partner, but has shortlisted three companies, Nokia, Ericsson and Siemens.

The company's communications manager, Mathew Boland, told the Herald on Sunday it wanted to be able to run a full range of telecommunication services.

TelstraClear had shortlisted a group of vendors to build a network and was looking at cellphone tower sites in Wellington and Auckland.

Vodafone and Telecom said it welcomed competition in the mobile market.

Vodafone business markets director Russell Stanners said 1.6 million New Zealanders currently had a Vodafone mobile and the emergence of a new mobile phone operator would not necessarily mean cheaper calls.

"TelstraClear has been talking about this for years and we have yet to see any outcomes," he said.

Telecom public affairs manager John Goulter said the mobile market was already highly competitive. If TelstraClear did enter with cheaper prices, Mr Goulter said Telecom would "move quickly to keep its customers ahead of the play in terms of service and value for money."

Ernie Newman, the chief executive of the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand, said he had been battling high mobile phone costs since the mid-'90s.

As far as he was concerned, TelstraClear could not get into the market place fast enough.

Communications Minister Paul Swain agreed more competition was needed.

"In New Zealand, we have a very high uptake of mobile phones but not a high use across all users, apart from text messaging," he said.

- THE HERALD ON SUNDAY