US deal helps pave way for broadband rivalry

By ADAM GIFFORD

Lines company Counties Power has selected San Diego-based Remec to provide the wireless access devices for its broadband network, paving the way for true "last mile" competition with Telecom on Auckland's southern fringe.

The decision, reached after months of negotiation with competing vendors, means most of the bits are in place for the May 6 commercial launch of its $21 million Wired Country project.

What is missing is a voice carrier - the only service provider who has so far signed up to sell Wired Country bandwidth is Iconz, which for now is focusing on data services for business users.

Counties Power chief executive Neil Simmonds said other service providers were working through technical issues.

Counties Power will build the Wired Country network - a combination of fibre and wireless access - and allow other companies to retail services across it.

The Remec equipment is capable of speeds of up to 57Mbps, but Simmonds said most retailers were likely to offer speeds of 1Mbps or below.

Iconz is starting out with a 256Kbps flat rate connection for $99 a month or 512Kbps for $120 a month.

Telecom's Jetstream is charged according to expected downloads, starting at $80 a month for 600MB. Under the Remec deal, Counties Power will buy base-station units and more than 3000 customer units for use in stage one of Wired Country, which includes most of Pukekohe, parts of Papakura and the corridor between them.

Simmonds said this would cost more than $3 million.

Counties Power is also bidding in the Provincial Broadband Extension (Probe) project for Government funds to deploy broadband to the Franklin and Auckland regions.