Telecom NZ offers full structural separation if it can build NZ's NBN

Stuart Corner
Monday, 02 August 2010 15:23

IT Industry - Strategy

Telecomm NZ has submitted a proposal to the Government to build not only its $NZ1.5b FTTH network serving major centres, but also the $300m planned rural network, and is offering full structural separation of its access network arm.

In September 2009 The NZ Government unveiled plans to build FTTH networks that would serve 75 percent of the population, and also allocated a further $300m for networks in other areas that would give 93 percent of rural schools at least 100Mbps via fibre and at least 10Mbps to the remainder. Under this proposal, more than 80 percent of rural households would get at least 5Mbps and the remainder at least 1Mbps.

The Government set up a company, Crown Fibre Holdings, to partner with the private sector to build the $NZ1.5b "Ultra Fast Broadband" network. CFH will carry out the government's partner selection process and manage the government's investment in fibre networks. The plan is for it to partner with private sector companies to set up 'Local Fibre Companies' (LFC), to deploy fibre network infrastructure and provide access to dark fibre products and wholesale Layer 2 services.

The Government said it would consider national and regionally-focused proposals, as well as consortium proposals and proposals aggregating any combination of LFC regions.

CFH has issued an RFP and has received 32 responses from 18 organisations. However the government has received feedback suggesting that layer 2 services should be mandatory, rather than optional and accordingly as decided to re-issue the RFP, which it has not yet done.

For the rural network it has called for, and received, expressions of interest. The deadline for these closed in June with 39 received, and communications minister, Stephen Joyce, said a request for proposals would be issued in August.

Against this background Telecom NZ has lobbed its bombshell, offering full structural separation of its access network unit - currently operational separated and operating under the name of Chorus - and offering to not only provide the full national rollout of the Ultra Fast Broadband network and deliver "more fibre, faster and more efficiently than any other partner while avoiding duplication or waste," but to also build the rural network, integrated with the UFB and "[extending] the reach of Ultra-fast Broadband into rural areas well beyond the required minimum] 75 percent coverage area."

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