TelstraClear scraps aerial cable plan

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Communications giant TelstraClear has quietly abandoned plans to hang a spiderweb of overhead black cables across Auckland.

Thousands of residents and political leaders across the Auckland region were horrified when TelstraClear applied for resource consent two years ago to criss-cross the city with lines for high-speed internet, cable television and telephone services.

Auckland City Mayor John Banks said the possibility of ugly cables "freaks me out" and Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey called it an "aerial horror story".

Two Auckland City councillors who formed Underground Auckland to oppose the plans, Richard Northey and Victoria Carter, said it was a stunning victory by Auckland residents to protect and preserve the city's beautiful streetscapes.

Auckland City Council consents' project manager Graeme Mitchie said the 2000 or so people who made submissions would be notified next week that TelstraClear had withdrawn its resource consents applications in four areas of the city.

A TelstraClear spokesman said the applications had been withdrawn because it was uneconomic to duplicate Telecom's network in Auckland and because of community opposition. TelstraClear hopes the Government will this month overturn a Commerce Commission decision and give it access to the Telecom's network.

TelstraClear and Vector, Auckland's power lines company, are also investigating an alternative plan to install fibre-optic links into homes and businesses across the region through the Vector network.