Incumbent Telecom New Zealand has sold its 49% stake in web portal YahooXtra to its JV partner, Australian portal Yahoo7, for an undisclosed price.
In a statement, Telecom NZ however said that it will still work with YahooXtra, which will be rebranded as…
Incumbent Telecom New Zealand has sold its 49% stake in web portal YahooXtra to its JV partner, Australian portal Yahoo7, for an undisclosed price.
In a statement, Telecom NZ however said that it will still work with YahooXtra, which will be rebranded as Yahoo New Zealand but continue to deliver the same Yahoo services to Telecom customers.
Alan Gourdie, Telecom Retail CEO, stated: “The YahooXtra business has been extremely successful over the past few years. The internet is a fast moving industry and it makes sense for both businesses to evolve the ongoing relationship.”
Submits UFB proposal
Telecom has submitted a proposal to the government to build most of the country’s Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) project.
The company said that it would cover 25 out of 33 regions, and that its network arm Chorus would become a separate listed entity, if the proposal is successful.
“Our proposal meets all of the key components of the UFB vision. It would see the creation of a completely new listed company, Chorus, to deliver an open-access, national, fibre-to-the-home network. Chorus’ fibre services would reach 75% of New Zealand within ten years and we believe it satisfies all of [Crown Fibre Holdings] CFH’s competitive pricing requirements,” said Paul Reynolds, Telecom CEO.
In December last year, CFH, the state-owned agency responsible for the NZ$7.5bn (US$6bn) UFB project, announced that Telecom NZ had been selected as preferred bidder, along with Central Fibre, to roll out UFB services in 25 regions, including Auckland and Wellington.
But Telecom NZ has been asked to separate its infrastructure operations from its retail business in order to get a seat on the broadband initiative. This is because retailers are only allowed to have a minority share in the network.
Overall, six parties have been selected for prioritised negotiations. Besides Central Fibre and Telecom NZ, the deal talks will include Vector, Enable Networks, Flute Joint Venture and Alpine Energy.
Joint rural broadband
Telecom New Zealand and Vodafone have reached a joint agreement with the government to roll out high-speed broadband services in rural areas.
Under the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI), the infrastructure will be built on an open access basis.
Mark Ratcliffe, CEO of Telecom New Zealand’s network business Chorus, said: “Because we’re able to build on significant existing infrastructure, capability and experience we can achieve a whole lot in a very short period of time. Within the first year we will have connected around 500 rural schools to fibre.” Last November, the Telecom New Zealand/Vodafone group was one of the five bidders for the government’s NZ$285m (US$229m) tender to develop broadband services in rural areas. Shortlisted alongside Torotoro Waea and FX Networks/ OpenGate in December, it was selected in February.
The Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Steven Joyce, said that 252,000 rural customers would get access to broadband at similar speeds and prices available to urban dwellers.
The RBI infrastructure rollout, expected to kick off in July, is scheduled to take about six years.
