Cable TV system revived for fast Internet access

By KEITH NEWMAN

Telecom is to revive its abandoned cable TV infrastructure as part of plans for a national roll-out of technology which accelerates existing telephone lines for fast Internet access.

Telecom quit its residential hybrid fibre-co-axial copper network in November 1997 after it dug up streets passing 70,000 homes across suburban Auckland and Wellington. It claimed leading edge digital subscriber line (DSL) technology would be a more economic proposal for delivering its First Media cable TV programming which gained fewer than 2000 subscribers.

However, after several months of trials with DSL it dropped its plans for television, deciding instead to focus on fast Internet. Telecom's pay TV unit First Media was shut earlier this year.

Now Telecom's manager of broadband technologies, Barry Davy, says the fibre and copper network will be opened again for Internet users subscribing to the service promised in the new year.

Telecom recently signed with Nokia as equipment provider for DSL technology which has so far been tested for 14 months. To date access is limited to about 300 trialists in Wellington. Details of a nationwide roll out were to have been announced this month but that has been delayed until next year.

Trials continue until March.

Telecom's manager of access development, Carl Penwarden, said about 80 percent of the country still has three-wire cabling in the home which would have to be replaced with a two-wire system for DSL to work effectively.

While most telephone lines were at least 40 years old Telecom is investing $35 million in upgrading its network, two thirds of that in Auckland. Mr Penwarden said the standard of most copper is high although some older cabling might not perform as well. Homes fed from fibre optic systems won't be able to access the service, and rural areas may also miss out.

Telecom's price to existing trialists in Wellington is $69 a month but according to Mr Penwarden this was considered "less than the market value" when the fees were set.

In areas where the service can be offered, Telecom is deploying the latest technology which compensates for varying line conditions. It is capable of 7Mbit/sec speeds into the home and 640Kbit/sec out. The Business Herald believes however speeds are in reality likely to be limited to about 1Mbit/sec, that both business and domestic services will be offered, and possibly only in metropolitan areas.