Continuous disclosure

Telecom shareholders finally had something to smile about this week - some good news that lifted the stock from around its 12-month lows.

First there was Telstra's decision on Tuesday not to build its own cellphone network in New Zealand. The Australian telco giant decided that cutting costs was more important and so left the mobile phone market to be divided between the two incumbents - Telecom and Vodafone.

Then on Wednesday, Vodafone revealed it had lost market share to Telecom for the fourth quarter in a row. Vodafone's market share slipped from 54.7 per cent to 54 per cent, with Telecom making up the difference.

All this saw Telecom's stock price rise from a low of $5.72 on the Thursday before last to $6.06 on Wednesday.

From there the shares have since slipped a little, dropping back to $5.97 at yesterday's close.

Perhaps investors are tempering their enthusiasm about this week's good news and instead looking ahead to the regulatory battle Telecom is likely to have as the Commerce Commission tries to make the telecommunications market more competitive.

Indeed, the shares are still some way below the high for 2005 of $6.56 set back in March.