TelstraClear launches TV campaign attacking Crown fibre bill

UPDATE: Communications Minister Steven Joyce has criticised a certain un-named telco for spending lots of money on advertising, but not declaring its own fast broadband plans.

Playing devil's advocate, NBR put it to TelstraClear: why haven't you laid any residential fibre outside Wellington or Christchurch (where the company has hybrid networks, in the process of being upgraded to fibre)? 

The government maintains it broadband needs a Crown fibre kick along because telcos have not invested in fibre over the past 10 years, holding back home, education, public service and many business users, and the economy overall.

Are there plans in the pipeline for TelstraClear to lay fibre in Auckland, or any other area outside Wellington or Christchurch?

Media relations manager Gary Bowering replied:

"In the current climate of great regulatory uncertainty that has been created by the government's flawed Telecommunications Amendment Bill we have had to develop several plans for multiple possible outcomes. Some of these include the possibility of further investment in infrastructure. Which plan will prove the most suitable, and what changes will need to be made to it, along with any timings, is unknown until the playing field is again clear."

Mr Bowering said his company had invested heavily in residential fibre/cable to the home and "unlike other telcos, and we have also invested in national backbone and business networks".

He added, "We've spent a lot of energy and money in lawyer's fees to get fair competition and the local loop unbundled. We've invested $25 million in [moving copper DSL broadband gear into] Telecom's exchanges. .

"We don't mind who builds the network or who runs it, as long as access and pricing is fair. It's up to the Government to invest in whatever distribution methods it sees fit, and it's chosen fibre. There are strong arguments that other methods (for example, wireless) might be better. And there needs to be discussion about issues such as what the network will be used for, as that is where the value is.

"Something else to consider is whether the UFB will simply be getting us to the traffic jam faster - we might get fast national traffic but what happens when it gets to the international cables?"

See more from Mr Bowering in the Comments section below.
 

12.30pm: Following on from its series of newspaper ads, speeches and statements, TelstraClear is taking its anti-Crown fibre campaign to the small screen.

The below clip will screen on television, starting tonight on TV One and TV3 at 6.20pm.

It stars broadcaster Neil Waka**, and poses the question, "Is the proposed Ultrafast Broadband Bill* fair to New Zealanders?"

Mr Waka does not get more detailed than asking viewers to imagine playing a game of rugby in which one team has fewer players, and there's no referee, or basketball where one team has a shorter hoop.

Close followers of the ultrafast broadband debate will still be wondering how TelstraClear chief executive Allan Freeth can square the campaign with his earlier comments that Telecom's Chorus is the best pick for the urban Crown fibre project, and his company's statement of support for the (ultimately successful) joint Telecom-Vodafone bid for the government's rural broadband tender. Or indeed Telstra's participation in Australian government's National Broadband Network - which is presumably somehow exempt from what Dr Freeth calls "network socialism". But it's all good fun.

A web address at the end of the clip points people to a Facebook page called Ultra Fast Broadband - Let's get it right NZ, set up by TelstraClear*** (though, sneakily, without any TelstraClear badging). The page cheerfully links to an NBR article.

So far the campaign has 94 followers, but we're sure things will pick up.

Maybe some Aucklanders will want to ask why TelstraClear has no plans to lay residential fibre in the city.

Central Fibre, the lines company consortium bidding against Telecom in 10 of the 25 Crown Fibre regions still up for grabs, said today that it expects UFB negotiations to wrap up by the end of this month.

* Presumably a reference to the Telecommunications Amendment Bill, due back in parliament May 16, which sets out the legal framework for the government's $1.35 billion urban ultrafast broadband (UFB) and $300 million rural broadband initative; allows for the separation of Telecom, and allows the Crown to buy into Telecom, or Telecom to buy into local lines or fibre companies that have nominally "won" one of the 33 UFB regions. TelstraClear is not participating in the tender.

** Denied! NBR wanted Dr Freeth to front the ads.

*** It's pointer URL, ultrafastnz.co.nz, was registered by TelstraClear.