Archive for December, 2007

NZ Co-Location Services Report Accepted

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

Co-location refers to the sharing of cellphone towers by communications companies. The NZ Minister for Communications and Information Technology David Cunliffe has accepted the recommendations of the Commerce Commission’s regarding the regulation of co-location services.  Recommendations included:

  • Regulatory settings for co-location will not include pricing – pricing will remain a specified service under the Telecommunications Act.
  • Standard terms determination to be developed early 2008 to address the non-price issues -  technical or procedural matters that are creating barriers for companies to enter the mobile industry.
  • Specified service of co-location on cellular transmission sites should not be added to the designated services contained in Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the Act
  • That the 2 November Vodafone undertaking should not be accepted.

Non-price terms deter entry into the market and prevent competition. The government has therefore put  systems in place to assist market  competition between telecommunications companies.

The Commerce Commission is also carrying out an independent analysis of mobile roaming services.

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Posted in Industry Action, New Zealand, Telco News | No Comments »

Optus Aiming To Beat Vodafone Australia to HSPA

Friday, December 14th, 2007

Optus has announced its plans to switch on HSPA across Australia by October 2008. This is around 18 months earlier than previously announced, and follows hot on the heels of Vodafones recent like announcement.

The 3G network will cover 96 percent of the Australian population, with a theoretical maximum downlink of 3.6 Mbps. Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks have been selected to rollout the network infrastructure.

Vodafone plans to have fully deployed its HSPA network to 95 percent of Australia by Devcember 2008.

Both Optus and Vodafone will be using the 900Mhz and 2100Mhz spectrum bands for their 3G deployments. This will cut potential rollout costs by one third: a network using the two bands will cost up to $500 million, Optus said, compared to up to $800 million for one based exclusively on 2100Mhz.

Optus plans to maintain the current network sharing agreement with Vodafone, jointly using a 2100Mhz network in metropolitan Australia.

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Posted in Australia, NGN, Telco News | No Comments »

New Mobile Player For NZ Market

Thursday, December 6th, 2007

A third player is due to enter the New Zealand mobile telecommunications market in 2008.

NZ Communications will offer New Zealand consumers another choice in mobile phone services, after entering into an agreement with Telecom for Telecom to  sell 5 MHz of paired cellular radio spectrum to NZ Communications, suitable for a wide range of cellular technologies.

 NZ Communications also has an agreement with Vodafone NZ, which allows NZ Communications to use Vodafone’s 2G network in areas where NZ Communications has no network coverage.

This entry signals the NZ Government’s regulatory settings in telecommunications are working , new players having more confidence to enter the New Zealand market.

Even better, is that the three players are working together to benefit consumers.

 The New Zealand government Digital Strategy vision is to deliver better, and more cost effective communications, technology and services to all New Zealanders. This vision is being adopted by leading providers in the New Zealand market, fostering new business relationships.

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Posted in Mobile Services, New Zealand, Telco News, Wireless Networks | No Comments »

Vodafone Australia and Optus Battle For Mobile Broadband

Sunday, December 2nd, 2007

Vodafone and Optus have both announced low-cost mobile broadband with high download limits this Christmas, in an attempt to win support for their respective slow networks with poor coverage. In comparison, Telstras networks are double the speed and double the size of the Vodafone and Optus networks.

Vodafone Offer

AU$39 per month 5GB [uploads included] on a 24-month contract, claiming it is “five times more value at almost half the price [than competitors]“.

This includes either a USB modem and E800 Expresscard. These currently operate on the 3.6Mbps network standard, but are capable of operating on the 7.2 Mbps standard, meaning customers will not need to buy a new device when Vodafone upgrades its 3G network.

Vodafones existing customers are able move to the new plan from lower plans, at no cost, and retaining the contract terms of their old plan. Customers on plans of higher value will have to pay a penalty of AU$15 per forfeited month.

And beware, the deal comes with catches – linking with other services. But the users also benefit from Vodafones data optimisation service, which compresses downloaded data up to a third, enabling users to make more of the download quota.

Optus Offer

2GB limit for AU$39.99 a month, but only when linked with an Optus mobile or business phone.

The Optus USB modem, although free, is on a rental arrangement, while the Vodafone USB modem or Expresscard is owned by the user.

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Posted in Australia, Mobile Services, Telco News | No Comments »