By RICHARD BRADDELL
WELLINGTON - A $1.1 billion telecommunications joint venture is set to bring many New Zealanders the latest in the information superhighway with high-speed Internet, cable television and telephone services.
The merger of Telstra New Zealand with Wellington cable company Saturn Communications will create what may be the country's second-largest telecommunications company and a serious competitor for Telecom.
The new company, Telstra Saturn, is already moving to extend its Wellington cable network with a rollout in Christchurch, and chief executive Jack Matthews said it would do the same in Auckland today if it had the resource consents.
Branding the planned network as a Formula 1 model as against a Telecom Model T, Mr Matthews said Saturn's performance in Wellington suggested it would bring savings over existing telephone and pay TV providers of between 20 and 40 per cent depending on the services taken. In Wellington, Saturn has grabbed 27 per cent of the telephone market in its service area, and 20 per cent for pay TV.
Cable customers get about 50 channels, including pay-per-view and crystal-clear reception of the free-to-air channels.
About a third of new phone customers are also using Saturn for Internet access.
However, Telstra Saturn says the best is yet to come as high-speed connections using cable modems will deliver a host of new services such as being able to download the latest computer games from Japan.
So far, Saturn has targeted high-speed Internet connections at business customers but the new company is just as keen to tackle residential customers.
The new chairman, Telstra executive Lindsay Yelland, said it would deliver broadband access speeds to business and residential customers from a fibre-optic network that would extend into business customers' premises.
Saturn's cable-laying would be accelerated so that instead of tackling one city at a time, there would be "parallel rollouts."
Cable network aims for homes
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.