OECD praises Telecom's DSL service

Telecom has made much of a new report from the OECD that ranks its digital subscriber line (Jetstream) offerings as the sixth most competitively priced out of 30 countries.

It also pointed out that New Zealand had done well in extending the reach of DSL - to nearly 85 per cent of the population - whereas Australia had covered just 75 per cent of Australians.

But TelstraClear spokesman Mathew Bolland said the counting of incumbent operators only did not accurately reflect broadband pricing overall and Telecom lagged when it came to relative speed of internet connections.

New Zealand continued to lag in broadband take-up, he said.

The OECD report said that "overall pricing in New Zealand is becoming more competitive".

"The increasing availability of independent platforms and the decision to introduce unbundling have already had an impact on broadband pricing.

"This is evident in the level of pricing and the increasing variety of prices."