Second ISP supports Gigatown
PLUS: Callplus boss on why only one of his brands is coming on board.
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Hawke’s Bay
Newcomer MyRepublic has become the second ISP to support Chorus' Gigatown competition.
It joins Orcon as one of two ISPs (so far) willing to retail the low-cost, superfast UFB fibre service that Chorus will offer to residents of the winning town in its Gigatown competition.
The winning town will get a $500,000 community grant from Chorus, a $200,000 innovation grant from Chorus and sponsor Alcatel Lucent, and cheap 1 gigabit/second connections for residents of the town who live in a street covered by the UFB, and who have their connection through a participating retail ISP.
The towns in the final round are Dunedin, Gisborne, Nelson, Timaru and Wanaka.
MyRepublic's enthusiasm for the competition is not surprising. The Singapore-owned internet service provider offers a UFB fibre-only service.
But why has CallPlus only put forward one of the brands in its stable (which consists of business brand CallPlus, innovation brand Orcon, the mainstream Slingshot and the budget Flip).
"Orcon is a market leader in fibre, and has opted to make the necessary investment in the Gigatown opportunity. This extends from network capacity to CPE [customer premise equipment like routers] to deliver the desired customer experience. Our brands are managed and operated separately and this is a good example of how they will compete in the market. This opportunity aligns perfectly with the Orcon brand and it is well positioned to make it a success to become the number one provider of choice in the lucky town."
It seems other ISPs are so far wary of that "necessary investment in the Gigatown opportunity," which has not been publicly quantified by Chorus, but which has drawn speculation about major costs for retail partners.
The Gigatown competition began in October 2013. It will not wrap up until March 2015, giving other ISPs plenty of time to decide whether they want to come on board.
Chris Keall
Fri, 21 Nov 2014
Fri, 21 Nov 2014
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