Telecom New Zealand's new friend TelstraClear was the only provider I know who publicaly announced their support for this:

TelstraClear welcomes today’s announcement on plans to extend the national fast broadband network.

TelstraClear Group Manager Regulatory, Chris Abbott, says the announcement will lead to more New Zealanders receiving much talked about fast broadband, which is one part of the equation.

“To ensure that good news becomes a reality consumers will also need a choice of services, products and providers,” he says.

“To achieve that, TelstraClear’s focus remains on getting the “road rules” right to ensure there is equal access for providers so the consumer can be assured of innovative products and services.”

The road rules need to keep pace with the significant change in the industry.

This will allow providers to have the ability to deliver innovative and competitive services to New Zealanders.

TelstraClear already delivers high speed broadband over high speed networks in some parts of the country.

“We welcome the opportunity to extend those services to other parts of New Zealand and are happy to do so via another provider’s network as long as access and terms are set properly,” Abbott said.

TelstraClear looks forward to working constructively with Telecom on its earlier promises to provide wholesale access in the new environment.

TelstraClear will expand on those issues in its submission on operational separation due on Friday.

PaulBrislen:
Care to actually back that up with a quote, because from what I have read and seen, the plan has been to sell ALL of the exchange land, and put cabinets in everywhere.

Certainly. Here's Telecom's press release announcing its investment:

Examples of townships that will benefit from the enhanced access network include Edgecumbe and Ngatea in the North Island, and Methven, Riverton, Pleasant Point and Waikouaiti in the South Island.

Yes - Telecom said they are going to use cabinets in rural NZ (Shocking I know, lower cost product to service lower revenue areas.)

But - Where did Telecom actually say "...use cabinets in regional New Zealand, not in the heart of the network..." As you claim they did? I have not read this anywhere, apart from you claiming it. 

I think you need to go back and re-read what I said about Point Chev. For long runs, 2KM plus, then cabinetisation makes perfect sense. For sub-2KM loops it does not.

Why does it not make sense to reduce your network footprint from a 400-800 Square Metre property/exchange to a 2 Square Metre exchange. I would have thought the cost savings would have been huge - but you have different figures??? Really???

Of course we asked. We've asked, Orcon has asked, the journalists have asked and the Commerce Commission has asked. Yesterday Telecom told us. Nobody expected Telecom to shut down the very exchanges we're using to test equipment on Telecom's network. Why should we? Telecom suggested the exchanges to use for testing.

I doubt you asked the correct questions. My first question a year ago when LLU was being released was so what? all the exchanges are going to turned into cabinets, and the exchange land sold. There was a article in the local rag "NZ Herald" about it a year ago.

So in essence your whole game plan was to purchase expensive equipment and put them into buildings your competitor publicly stated they were selling as part of their Next Generation Network rollout, which they wrote articles about in the paper, and took a road tour to discuss, and published white papers about? They did all of this as a master plan to keep this information hidden from you, and to offer customers faster broadband. 

Now your upset? 

sbiddle: I just have to wonder about the whole telco sector when even the trolley boy at the local supermarket knows that Telecom are dumping virtually all of their existing exchange sites and replacing them with a FTTN network and yet numerous telco's don't seem to know what's happening in the sector!

freitasm: To summarise:

5.Most people on the strets and mainstrean media bash Telecom New Zealand because they are Telecom New Zealand, regardless of they actually doing a good job in deploying technology.

tstone: I am concerned about some of the discussion here because, if the proposed cabinetisation plans make it more difficult for Telecom's competititors to provide a choice to customers, the ability to provide real competitive offerings appears to be limited.

freitasm:

Is there anything preventing those companies of putting money into their own infrastructure?

No, I didn't think so...

freitasm: I know... I would love to take Geekzone to the next level, but that requires capital I can't afford myself.

Then enters "partnerships"...

TinyTim:

freitasm:

Is there anything preventing those companies of putting money into their own infrastructure?

No, I didn't think so...

Perhaps the ability for a company worth a few million dollars or a few tens of millions to borrow hundreds of millions?