Admittedly it's being bankrolled by a $1 billion taxpayer injection, but Telecom's soon-to-be spun off Chorus division has cut the price of its existing business fibre service - and is promising some tantalising Crown Fibre deals ahead.
Chorus said this morning it would cut the price of one of its existing business fibre services from $600 to $380 a month. The cut was made to fulfil one of the terms of its contract with Crown Fibre Holdings.
It also revealed more details of the wholesale pricing it will charge Crown Fibre retailers.
Telecom won contracts covering 69% of the government's $1.35 billion ultrafast broadband (UFB) project by population, or 74% by premise. As part of the deal, the government earmarked $929 million to invest in Chorus shares and debt - money that doesn't have to be repaid, at no interest, until 2025, with final repayment in 2036.
Today, Chorus said that from August 24, it will cut the wholessale cost of its High Speed Network Service (HSNS) from $600 to $380 a month.
The wholesale pricing is offered to retail ISPs, who in sell access to business and corporate customers.
The new pricing will also be available in areas outside Telecom/Chorus' Crown Fibre regions.
Chorus also announced today that it had opened innovation labs in Auckland and Wellington.
In line with its previous statements, the Chorus also detailed wholesale pricing for home connections, including 10Mbps upstream /30Mbps downstream plan for $37.50 per month or a 50Mbps upstream/100Mbps
downstream plan for $55 per month.
It looks good on paper, but update will depend on the margin added by retailers, whether they saddle plans with a monthly data cap (and excess charges), or the cost of value-added services like on-demand TV - three crucial factors yet to be revealed.
Chorus did say that an analogue telephony adapter would be included in its base consumer and business plans - meaning "carrier-grade" VoiP (internet calling) can be included in retailers plans - potentially yielding a big saving for those who today have to buy a landline voice line with their broadband.
Chorus also revealed a raft of detail about wholesale business plans (see below).
Frustratingly vague
Some parts of the Chorus document are frustratingly vague, however.
At one point it promises a "Multicast Bitstream" wholesale service that will allow retail service providers to offer "services capable of delivering audio, video, high definition video, 3D HDTV, interactive media services and emerging new technologies." But no pricing is attached to that option at this point.
The wholesale pricing has been made public as part of a discussion process with the industry.
Chorus' separation from Telecom is due to take place by the end of the year, subject to shareholder and debt-holder approval.
RAW DATA: Chorus Crown Fibre pricing statement
Chorus has today released draft Service Descriptions and other related documents for key Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) products. This is part of the joint industry consultation process with Crown Fibre Holdings (CFH), via the Telecommunications
Carriers’ Forum (TCF) to develop the new Chorus wholesale services agreement
reference offer.
Chorus has released draft Service Descriptions for the following products as well as related Operations Manuals and Service Level Terms.
Direct Fibre Access
Our Direct Fibre Access service offers retail service providers a fibre optic connection between an end customer and their service provider’s equipment in the local fibre exchange.
Commonly known as ‘dark fibre’ this fibre connection is ‘unrestricted’ insofar as data transfer speeds will be determined by the fibre optic cable characteristics and the equipment the service provider chooses to install.
This service will typically suit tailored solutions for large businesses or businesses with the in-house resources to manage their own services. It includes full restoration support when a fault is reported (the absence of Chorus network monitoring equipment means Chorus cannot identify faults directly).
Price: $355 p/mth
Bandwidth Fibre Access*
This service is a step up from the Chorus’ Direct Fibre Access service because it gives retail service providers access to ‘grey fibre’. That is, fibre with data transfer bandwidth management.
End customer premises can be connected to service provider equipment in the local fibre exchange, with the choice of three data transfer speeds.
The service includes the installation of a Chorus media converter at a point (or points) in the service and provides dedicated bandwidth from customer premises with no switching or additional latency.
Price: $380 p/mth for up to 100Mbps download speeds, $455 p/mth for up to 1Gbps download speeds and $1,355 p/mth for up to 10Gbps download speeds
Bitstream 2
Bitstream 2 is a simple but highly flexible UFB service ideal for introducing customers to an entry level service, while giving the retail service provider the ability to seamlessly build on the service as the customer demands increase and develop. It supports the development of mass market residential or SME offerings, and includes the ability to deliver existing voice services over fibre (see
Analogue Telephony Adapter Voice).
It can support a wide range of internet applications; from services delivered on a best-efforts basis to more complex applications and content, like video, which need higher performance levels.
Price: Chorus intends to offer to retail service providers an up to 10Mbps upstream/30Mbps downstream plan for $37.50 p/mth or a 50Mbps upstream/100Mbps downstream for $55.00 p/mth. Other options are available.
Bitstream 3 & 3a
Bitstream 3 is a highly flexible UFB service that is designed to support business-grade applications, like virtual private networks. It delivers up to a 100Mbps of dedicated downstream and upstream bandwidth with transparent VLANs (virtual local area networks) that makes it ideal for medium businesses or branch offices.
The service has a wide range of committed and excess information rate (CIR/EIR) options to ensure that the service is specific to their customer’s needs.
Price: from $175.00 p/mth
Bitstream 4
This is a premium UFB access service that offers high performance for corporate customers and UFB priority users. It delivers up to 10Gbps of dedicated downstream and upstream bandwidth with transparent VLANs that makes it ideal for supporting complex business-grade applications for large businesses or corporate hubs.
The service has a wide range of committed information rate (CIR) options to ensure that the service is specific to their customer’s needs.
Price: from $380 p/mth for up to 100Mbps download speeds; from $455 p/mth for up to 1Gbps download speeds; from $1355 p/mth for up to 10Gbps download speeds. CIR can be purchased from $10 for up to 10Mbps.
Baseband
The Baseband service is designed to enable retail service providers to offer an analogue phone service over fibre where traditional copper is no longer available and the end customer only requires a voice service. It comes standard with a single ATA Voice service that allows end customers to continue to use their existing telephone equipment over the fibre access network.
Price: Standalone Baseband costs $24.29
ATA (Analogue Telephony Adapter) Voice
This service is designed to enable retail service providers to offer an analogue phone service over fibre.
Essentially, ATA Voice provides a carrier grade Voice over IP transport from the end customer premises to the handover point, ready to be connected to the telephone network equipment. This allows customers to connect to fibre and still use the phone and broadband services they are familiar with today. Chorus provides the ATA equipment meaning that the service provider doesn’t need a gateway to deliver a voice solution.
ATA Voice uses high quality committed bandwidth that is always available for analogue voice services. The VoIP solution is compatible with today’s codec and signalling requirements.
ATA Voice is included as part of the Bitstream 2,3 and 3a service.
Multicast Bitstream
This service has been designed to support the broadcast of media streams to multiple users simultaneously. It has flexible bandwidth options to support a wide range of media types and enables retail service providers to easily offer triple play solutions.
With Multicast Bitstream retail service providers will be able to offers services capable of delivering audio, video, high definition video, 3D HDTV, interactive media services and emerging new technologies. Price will depend on the number of regions, size and configuration of the multicast stream.
Central Office and POI Co-location
Central Office and POI Co-location gives retail service providers the ability to build a network to deliver fibre-based services from a single location.
The service is designed to support the installation of service provider network equipment in the fibre exchange or Central Office and provide fibre-based services to end users who are connected to the fibre network (Main Optical Fibre
Distribution Frame or MOFDF) in the fibre exchange.
Price: ranges from $215 p/mth to $1900 p/mth depending on site and requirements.
Handover Connection
The UFB Handover Connection Service is a linking service that provides the inter-network connectivity between the Bitstream Services and the Service Provider networks.
Price: $100 p/mth for a 1Gbps Handover Connection; $300 p/mth for 10Gbps Handover Connection.
Dual Connect Co-location*
Dual Connect Co-location is a service designed for retail service providers to deliver services over both copper and fibre cable access networks from exchange-
based equipment.
The service supports the installation of service provider equipment in an exchange, which can then be used to deliver services to end customers whether they are connected via the copper cable (metallic path facility or MPF) or fibre network (Main Optical Fibre Distribution Frame or MOFDF).
Existing UCLL Co-location footprints can also be reclassified under this service, so existing footprint space can be leveraged to deliver a wider range of services to end customers.
Key features:
• Managed security and access to space within Chorus exchanges
• Equipment installation and maintenance
• Options for electricity, back-up power, seismic support and air conditioning requirements
Price: $475 p/mth
Note:
• All prices exclude GST.
• Prices in the Chorus Price List prevail.
• Pricing reflects amounts that Chorus will charge Retail Service Providers. End
customers are not able to purchase directly from Chorus.
* UFB related products that are not part of the Chorus wholesale services
agreement consultation process.
NBR staff
Fri, 15 Jul 2011
