TelstraClear seeks ruling on speed

By PAUL BRISLEN

TelstraClear has applied to the Commerce Commission for regulated access to Telecom's high-speed internet service.

Telecom offers a wholesale high-speed internet service to providers, but has only one speed on offer - 256 kbps (kilobits per second).

TelstraClear has been asking for faster speeds for "years", says the company's general manager for regulatory affairs, Grant Forsyth ... "without getting anywhere".

Forsyth said the final straw for TelstraClear was Telecom's launch of faster retail plans, 1mbps and 2 mbps (megabits per second), that were not available to its competitors at a wholesale rate.

"If they can offer them at a retail level then why can't they offer them at a wholesale rate?"

Telecom's general manager for Government relations, Bruce Parkes, says he is disappointed TelstraClear has chosen to seek regulation rather than continue negotiating.

"We were discussing this and other issues and I'm quite surprised they've decided to go to the commissioner over this."

Forsyth said the company had several concerns about the high-speed plans being offered by Telecom and hoped the regulatory regime would address those.

"The churn fee is simply anti-competitive and we'd like that addressed, but there are other issues surrounding quality of service assurances as well as the larger issue of speeds on offer."

Telecom has imposed a $100 churn fee that is charged whenever a customer switches from one provider to another.

Forsyth said TelstraClear was also concerned about whether Telecom would be allowed to provide one level of service for its own customers and a lesser level for its competitors' customers.

Several of the internet providers have been upset about Telecom's wholesale service but have been unwilling to seek a regulated solution from the commissioner.

Any provider that does seek a determination is unable to offer Telecom's commercial solution at the same time, meaning they could be out of the market for up to nine months while a decision is made.

This year the commission took the unusual step of warning the industry that Telecom's proposed wholesale solution was not the same as its proposed regulated solution and drew particular attention to issues such as the churn fee.

Telecommunications commissioner Douglas Webb has also indicated that he would like to introduce a regulated wholesale service but was unable to do so until one of Telecom's competitors asked him to intervene.

Forsyth hopes the commission's procedure will produce a regulated service within nine months.

Telecom's wholesale regime was to have been introduced by the end of September, but a technical hitch delayed it. The Herald understands it will now launch on Monday.