Will Telstra Clear also be forced to unbundle

OK, telstra clear have their own telephone lines in Wellington, Kapiti and
parts of Christchurch so the don't have to use Telecoms network to provide
services to people in this areas. I believe. Will they also be forced to
share this infrastructure with competing ISPs, as it doesn't seem fair that
telecom is being forced to open up their network, when their competitor can
continue to have a monopoly of their own netowrk. I believe Telstra Clear
they provide fibre optic line, so potentally if this was opened up, we could
get even better internet in the areas it has been installed, than over the
old copper telecom lines.
It would also be good if the mobile services were unbundled so ISPs can set
up 3G services at an affordable price.

 

While Clear probably wont be, I believe it should be.

regards

Thing

 

Interesting point. I hadn't actually considered this before. I think it
would be unfair to force TelstraClear to unbundle without some sort of
compensation for the capital they have invested. The difference with
Telecom is that by the time they became a private company, the
infrastructure was already set up.

 

But Telecom bought the network so I see no difference between Telecom
buying a piece of cable in the ground and Clear buying new cable and
installing it in the ground. The argument is to open up a large
privately owned network but not a smaller privately owned network.

The problem I see is this allows Clear and others to cherry pick
Telecom's most profitable customers but giving Telecom and others no
similar capability on Clear's network.

As a friend of mine says "just another telco" I can understand people
describing Telecom as telescum because of the way they have been
treated, but to be honest I have found my treatment by Clear only
marginally better than how I was treated at Telecom....

So Telecom's customers will (I assume) enjoy more choice, lower costs
and better service as Telecom will have to listen to customers, pity
Clear customers wont enjoy the same thing.

Now if we look at Citylink, they are happy to act as the backbone and
any company can buy fibre through them and get on with it, so why not
the others?

Of course if the Government has any sense it will write the Legislation
as easily enabling such a feature later on if required.

regards

Thing

 

Its probably not that practical, the network is fiber to the master kerb
cabinets, then rf coax to the cable modems, plus the two twisted pairs.
Its much more of a distributed system and there really isn't a place
where ADSL would fit into the system, that is not already served by the
TV rf cable.

It would be possible to put mini DSLAMs in kerb cabinets and run an isps
own backbone network to them I suppose, but the Telecom copper is much
easier to connect to, and already terminates at all the same houses, no
matter whether it is still used or not.

ADSL is a technology designed to retrofit to an old style telephone star
network, not the sort of hybrid that TC run.

 

ADSL maybe where technology is at the moment, as it is able to put new life
into the copper lines, but in 5 years things may have changed a lot.
Telstras network which is newer and more advanced could be the future into
providing really fast speeds greater than 100MB with technology that is
deveoped in the future. The governemtn only thinks of now, but not the long
term future.

 

Yes we agree Clear is just another crap bastard telco.
And we agree it would be unfair if TelstraClear had an equivalent copper
star network local loop and the same ruling did not apply.
However the TelstraClear pairs only go from fiber feed kerb cabinets
with the rf coax, not from an exchange. Its simplistic to go "Well they
do intarweb too so why can't other isps put their own dslams on TCs
copper pairs". Given a choice of feeding their own backbone to either
TCs street cabinets or to Telecom exchanges, I know what I'd choose.
The vast majority of premises connected to TC have Telecom local loop
access although it might not be connected.
The vast majority of premises connected to Telecom do not have TelstraClear.
However I expect TC will be one of the main suppliers of alternative
adsl connections now since they are already in the fiber backbone biz.

 

But will it be any cheaper? so we have a duopoly instead of a monopoly,
I suspect not.

regards

Thing

 

Clear doesn't have a physical network that goes into every property in NZ.


Have A Nice Cup of Tea

 

*SNIP*

Now, I could be wrong, but doesn't EVERY house that's wired up to the
phone network have a connection to Telecom? They may not be using it, but
damned sure it's there.
The reason TCL won't be unbundled is that they don't have a natural
monopoly on the last mile. They break Telecom's monopoly to a small
proportion of the country (25%?), but they aren't the only connection
available to even their customers. Anyone who wants to switch just cancels
with TCL and calls up Telecom to get their phone line enabled again, and
people do do it.

Maybe Vista is confused about the nature of TCL's network? It's not like
it's the only connection available to the people who use it, they're tied
to Telecom too.

 

No, we have a competitive environment that will operate on the Telecon
copper.
That will most likely include TC offering connections on that Telecom
copper, and as every TC cable modem customer also has access to the
Telecom network, all the providers on the Telecom copper will compete
with the cable modem network on price, speed, contention ratio, quality etc

 

Clear is doing what any business would by treating its customers just a bit
better than Telecom treats theirs - in other words, just well enough to stop
them changing suppliers. If non-Clear suppliers suddenly start offering
better service and connection plans, Clear will ramp up its service and
offerings.

 

No but it has enough.....by the same argument Telecom does not either,
just a % difference.

regards

Thing

 

I dont, clear cut it off, but getting a new pair would not be hard of
expemnsive.

With bundling in effect it is, I cannot keep cable and dump Telstra's
land line, which I hardly use, I would go mobile, cheaper for me.

regards

Thing

 

*SNIP*
They physically disconnected Telecom's cable to your house?

 

Yes.

regards

Thing

 

So what is your point ?

 

Which plan? Most TC cable plans no longer require you to have the phone
line as well.

David

 

No. Telecom's maintenance policy has been that they don't replace
lines to non customers.
For example, the Telecom pole outside our house was replaced about a
year ago. The copper Telecom lines to us and other TC customers was
not replaced.

An interesting statistic, that pole used to feed five houses with
Telecom services. It now feeds one Telecom & three TC customers (plus
three elec) ! Poor old Telecom had to pay for the pole replacement
however

Maybe there is an argument that because there is existing competition
in Wgton & Chch, Telecom should not have to unbundle there :-(

 

I'm sure they have thought of that.
Its a good reason for Telstra not to offer adsl on Telecom pairs in the
areas served by their cable, but Ihug and the others will still be
pretty keen to compete.