 New Sig
TelstraClear chalked up its second win against
dominant telco Telecom in a month today, with the Commerce Commission
ruling in its favour over Internet bitstream access.
The
competition watchdog ruled that Telecom must provide nationwide
bitstream access to TelstraClear with the maximum downstream speed
technically available (currently 7.6Mbps) and an upstream speed of
128kbps, at a price of $27.87 per month, plus GST.
Bitstream is an input for providing broadband Internet access to consumers on Telecom's copper wire local access network.
Today's
move means TelstraClear can combine bitstream with its own transmission
and ISP (Internet Service Provider) services to create broadband
services for its customers.
"This decision gives TelstraClear
the ability to compete and innovate in supplying broadband services
across New Zealand," telecommunications commissioner Douglas Webb said.
"TelstraClear will be able to differentiate its services from
Telecom's broadband services. The result will be more choice and
greater competition."
It is the second score for TelstraClear against Telecom this month.
Two
weeks ago, it was granted access to Telecom's wholesale business
services, including Private Office Networking, One Office and Connect
Anywhere (Remote Office) services, Message Connect and
Additional/Enhanced Directory listing services.
I t has been a long time coming, however, with TelstraClear lodging its application for bitstream in November last year.
Telecom
had argued that allowing TelstraClear to provide high-speed bitstream
risks degrading the quality of broadband services, particularly
services to rural customers.
The commission today accepted
that was a risk, but noted that Telecom itself currently provided a
significant number of high-speed services to retail customers and the
risk would "in principle be the same whether a high-speed service is
provided by Telecom or TelstraClear".
The commission concluded
that any risk of service degradation was outweighed by the benefits
that high-speed services would deliver to users.
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Mood : OPTIMISTIC
Listening To : KORN - SOUVENIR |
Another New Sig - TelstraClear and Telecom
December 21, 2005, 12:17 am
