Orcon planning ADSL2+ network?

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freitasm

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#8125 5-Jun-2006 21:54

Received this just now:

Orcon smashes the price of broadband down to $19.95; announces new wholesale network

Orcon Internet is leading the charge to provide New Zealanders with affordable broadband with today’s launch of a new $19.95 broadband plan. For the first time in New Zealand history, the price of broadband has gone below the average price of dial-up. This is the first step in preparation for a $30 million investment in broadband infrastructure over the next 5 years by the 100% kiwi-owned company.

“There are still hundreds of thousands of kiwis on dial-up paying $27.95 per month; with our new broadband plan priced at just $19.95, all kiwis can afford the luxury of broadband at home. Our new plan at $19.95 has the same specs as Xtra’s $29.95 offering, but with bill shock protection for mum and dad consumers” says Orcon’s General Manager of Operations Scott Bartlett.

“Our plans have always been far superior to those of other larger players in the market, with our existing $29.95 plan offering 10 times as much data and 10 times cheaper excess data; but this new plan at $19.95 provides for a very affordable entry point for those customers who have put off the leap from dial-up to broadband due to price.”

“We think it’s about time that New Zealand catches up with the rest of the world and has access to affordable broadband; and we know that people are fed up with waiting for it to happen” continued Bartlett.

Orcon speculated $10 per month broadband would be on the cards when LLU was first announced last month.

“We decided not to wait for LLU to kick in, and put this $19.95 offer out there now. We remain committed to our goal of $10 per month broadband, but it will only be feasible once LLU is underway” continued Bartlett.

“In order for us to get as many kiwis on true broadband under LLU, we need scale to justify our investment plans. We are partnering with a number of other ISP’s to wholesale off the new network, but a large part of our motivation behind the new $19.95 broadband plan is to bring new customers to Orcon who have the desire to support a kiwi company in delivering quality broadband now and into the future.”

This bold move is part of a long term plan that will see Orcon invest over $30 million in building a new wholesale ADSL2+ broadband network, capable of delivering download speeds of up to 24Mbit, voice services and IPTV (with over 50 channels set for launch in late 2007).

“We have decided to build a true broadband network that can deliver the kinds of speeds and services that customers are demanding today. Not only fast downloads, but triple-play services such as IPTV and voice services. Orcon has taken the additional step of committing to making our new ADSL2+ network available to wholesale partners. Today we have only one wholesale ADSL network in New Zealand, but we are committed to opening up our network to any ISP or technology access seeker for wholesale, thereby breathing new life into the ISP industry” says Bartlett.

Orcon’s new network will be built initially in the main centers, with other areas including rural/provincial cities such as Hastings, Napier, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Dunedin, Whangarei, Hamilton, Tauranga, Nelson, Invercargill, Masterton and Wanganui coming online in stages 2 and 3 of our network build (over a 2-5 year period).

An exact construction start date has yet to be set; as Orcon eagerly awaits the results of either commercial negotiation with Telecom for LLU access, or legislation from the Government consistent with the broadband package announced in early May.

Orcon is already the third largest ISP wholesaler in New Zealand, and as such is well placed to make open access wholesale LLU work. Orcon is also the 4th largest ISP in New Zealand and is 100% Kiwi owned and operated.

Broadband plan details:
256Kbps/128Kbps
$19.95 p/month with Orcon tolls
$29.95 p/month without Orcon tolls
200MB of data
$0.02c p/MB excess charge
Charging cap of $149.95 p/month
Free connection (saving of $99)

Investment details:
$14.1 million in stage one, delivering ADSL2+ services to over 250,000 kiwis, including IPTV and VoIP
$16 million in stages two and three, delivering ADSL2+ services to more urban and rural/provincial centres
Partnering with large international Telecommunications business (to be announced)

Taking out the filling (yawn, there must be a PR course where people learn how to write these things), I am really thinking if they have the capability (investments, resource consent, etc) to deliver a new ADSL network, parallel to Telecom's.

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#37763 6-Jun-2006 08:35

Wrote a quick piece about it for Computerworld last night, but in brief, Orcon's planned network will run over Telecom's copper. No RMA consent and parallel network needed, in other words, and it seems Orcon has stitched up a deal with a large equipment supplier as well.

It's an interesting development as it's the first reasonably concrete evidence of other players investing (it won't be rock-solid until it's deployed of course) after the new regulation was introduced. Also, it shows that Theresa and Telecom may indeed have been sincere when they said they'd play along with with new rules rather hindering them.

We'll see what comes out of it.

Juha

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#37765 6-Jun-2006 08:49

juha: Wrote a quick piece about it for Computerworld last night, but in brief, Orcon's planned network will run over Telecom's copper. No RMA consent and parallel network needed, in other words, and it seems Orcon has stitched up a deal with a large equipment supplier as well.

It's an interesting development as it's the first reasonably concrete evidence of other players investing (it won't be rock-solid until it's deployed of course) after the new regulation was introduced. Also, it shows that Theresa and Telecom may indeed have been sincere when they said they'd play along with with new rules rather hindering them.

We'll see what comes out of it.

I've heard rumors of another ISP already investing in a nationwide VoIP network due for launch within the 12 months with DID available in all major metropolitan areas. I had believed it was ihug but this could well be related to Orcons accouncement. Slingshot appear to have put iTalk on "hold" at present due to the very poor quality of VoIP over existing ADSL connections so things could be very interesting if Orcon can pull a deal out of the bag and be offering an alternative network offering true double play serevices to customers. Considering Orcon always seemed to have been in bed with Telecom it would be interesting to see if this network is something we could see sooner rather than later.

freitasm

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#37766 6-Jun-2006 08:53

juha: Wrote a quick piece about it for Computerworld last night, but in brief, Orcon's planned network will run over Telecom's copper. No RMA consent and parallel network needed, in other words, and it seems Orcon has stitched up a deal with a large equipment supplier as well.

It's an interesting development as it's the first reasonably concrete evidence of other players investing (it won't be rock-solid until it's deployed of course) after the new regulation was introduced. Also, it shows that Theresa and Telecom may indeed have been sincere when they said they'd play along with with new rules rather hindering them.

We'll see what comes out of it.

See what I mean? LLU is not really development. These ISPs go out saying "We are developing a network" when they are actually only deploying routers and DSLAMs. None of those cable infrastructure, right?

[irony] Hey, URL dropper... Better tell IDG they are getting link goodness and Google juice from us. Perhaps that will increase the price Fairfax is paying for it? [/irony]

Back to the topic...

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#37769 6-Jun-2006 09:04

Isn't ihug talking about spending $20 million on its own gear also? I'm quietly wondering if TelstraClear will soon show what their intentions are since they were so keen for LLU.

juha

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#37770 6-Jun-2006 09:05

freitasm: See what I mean? LLU is not really development. These ISPs go out saying "We are developing a network" when they are actually only deploying routers and DSLAMs. None of those cable infrastructure, right?

Not quite sure what you mean here, but there's money coming in, equipment being deployed, and Telecom's getting wholesale money... so yes, I'd say it is development. What's happening now is that ISPs and Telecom will try to get as big customer bases as they can to be ready for the future. It means there will be more options for customers and a bigger market for providers. That's not such a bad thing, surely?

[irony] Hey, URL dropper... Better tell IDG they are getting link goodness and Google juice from us. Perhaps that will increase the price Fairfax is paying for it? [/irony]

Well, IDG doesn't use Google and I could only refer to the story I wrote, not copy and paste it into the forum. I've linked to Geekzone more times than the opposite, so there's no need to get huffy about it...

Juha

freitasm

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#37775 6-Jun-2006 09:13

juha:
freitasm: See what I mean? LLU is not really development. These ISPs go out saying "We are developing a network" when they are actually only deploying routers and DSLAMs. None of those cable infrastructure, right?

Not quite sure what you mean here, but there's money coming in, equipment being deployed, and Telecom's getting wholesale money... so yes, I'd say it is development. What's happening now is that ISPs and Telecom will try to get as big customer bases as they can to be ready for the future. It means there will be more options for customers and a bigger market for providers. That's not such a bad thing, surely?

Well, I mean all these companies are really going to be using copper - for a long time to come, because I haven't heard of any plans of a new infrastructure.

juha:
[irony] Hey, URL dropper... Better tell IDG they are getting link goodness and Google juice from us. Perhaps that will increase the price Fairfax is paying for it? [/irony]

Well, IDG doesn't use Google and I could only refer to the story I wrote, not copy and paste it into the forum. I've linked to Geekzone more times than the opposite, so there's no need to get huffy about it...

Hey, calm down. I should have used [joke] [/joke] tags in fact - the whole thing was a reference to Fairfax buying IDG, not complaining about linking. I actually don't like people pasting text from another sources, it's always better to link.

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#37777 6-Jun-2006 09:17

freitasm: See what I mean? LLU is not really development. These ISPs go out saying "We are developing a network" when they are actually only deploying routers and DSLAMs. None of those cable infrastructure, right?

[irony] Hey, URL dropper... Better tell IDG they are getting link goodness and Google juice from us. Perhaps that will increase the price Fairfax is paying for it? [/irony]
Back to the topic...

DSLAMs don't count as a new network. When some company comes out and build cable down my street or something, then I will take notice. We this is, is purely installing gear on Telecoms lines and undercutting Telecom and leaving them with the maintenence bills etc.

MF, you could install a few DSLAMs and have a GZ ISP.... Small investment, tidy profit.

Be nice to Juha, he's just ego boosting a little

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freitasm

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#37779 6-Jun-2006 09:22

bradstewart: DSLAMs don't count as a new network. When some company comes out and build cable down my street or something, then I will take notice. We this is, is purely installing gear on Telecoms lines and undercutting Telecom and leaving them with the maintenence bills etc.

Exactly!

juha

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#37781 6-Jun-2006 09:22

freitasm: Well, I mean all these companies are really going to be using copper - for a long time to come, because I haven't heard of any plans of a new infrastructure.

Chicken and egg situation, isn't it... once you have big enough customer bases, you can start thinking about rolling out new networks to supply them with. Telecom operates like that too.

Hey, calm down. I should have used [joke] [/joke] tags in fact - the whole thing was a reference to Fairfax buying IDG, not complaining about linking. I actually don't like people pasting text from another sources, it's always better to link.

Joke tags are good. No, not getting excited here... not enough coffee for that yet :)

Juha

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#37783 6-Jun-2006 09:28

bradstewart: DSLAMs don't count as a new network. When some company comes out and build cable down my street or something, then I will take notice. We this is, is purely installing gear on Telecoms lines and undercutting Telecom and leaving them with the maintenence bills etc.

So you think Telecom is giving Orcon access to the copper for free? That's actually not the case. Orcon will have to pay Telecom commercial rates for access to the copper. You're confusing the issue again.

From an ideological purity perspective, it seems right to demand that any new entrant into the market should duplicate the incumbent's networks and other resources. From a realistic and practical perspective, it would be silly and wasteful to do so.

Be nice to Juha, he's just ego boosting a little

No ego-boosting so don't worry about niceties.

Juha

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#37784 6-Jun-2006 09:45

Good on Orcon for announcing their plans. ihug once hinted at a $20M investment and who knows what Slingshot is up to.

Seeby is the quiet achiever, he has taken a back seat and not sought the media spot light (like others) and now he is prepared to back himself and deliver on a $30M investment. Orcon are already fully in customer grab mode by undercutting everyone on the 256kbps plan which they are selling below cost. I wonder if Annette will lodge a complaint with the Com Com?

What's the term? ihug and Slingshot are full of 'p_ss and wind'.

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#37785 6-Jun-2006 09:52

juha:Orcon will have to pay Telecom commercial rates for access to the copper.

I know they will have to pay an access rate, which will end up being set by the government and given their recent record of favouring Telecom I can of course see that as being a rate thats fair to Telecom!

Also to add to the mornings excitement, I know that an American player is looking at the NZ telecomms arena, either for investment or as an actual entrant into market. At the moment i cant say anymore, but this source comes from within the concerned party.

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#37786 6-Jun-2006 09:57

Jama: Good on Orcon for announcing their plans. ihug once hinted at a $20M investment and who knows what Slingshot is up to.

Seeby is the quiet achiever, he has taken a back seat and not sought the media spot light (like others) and now he is prepared to back himself and deliver on a $30M investment. Orcon are already fully in customer grab mode by undercutting everyone on the 256kbps plan which they are selling below cost. I wonder if Annette will lodge a complaint with the Com Com?

What's the term? ihug and Slingshot are full of 'p_ss and wind'.

It would be nice to see those two put their money where their mouth is. Annette is too concerned with bitc*ing about Telecom and making bread to actually get off rear end and do something.

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#37787 6-Jun-2006 10:02

Aren't rubbish plans starting at 200MB just more of the "Confusion" that telcos are supposed to be moving away from?
I'd hardly call price capping at $149.95 "bill shock protection for mum and dad consumers".

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#37788 6-Jun-2006 10:08

Bung: Aren't rubbish plans starting at 200MB just more of the "Confusion" that telcos are supposed to be moving away from?
I'd hardly call price capping at $149.95 "bill shock protection for mum and dad consumers".

I was thinking something similar earlier... you'd go through 200MB in just a week I reckon with Windows Update running on top of the normal browsing. The overage charges plus tolls explain perhaps how Orcon can resell that plan below cost.

Juha

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