[TelstraClear] Why did telstra clear not extend their cable network BEFORE UFB

Forums › One NZ (including Farmside) › [TelstraClear] Why did telstra clear not extend their cable network BEFORE UFB

hamish225

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#93098 14-Nov-2011 12:13

The way i see it, they missed out on a big opportunity to undercut telecom. why did they stop building it?

It's obviously never going to happen now, such a waste!

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#545109 14-Nov-2011 12:32

I don't know but I find it very frustrating when I know so many people living in the NW sector of Christchurch who I can't switch over to naked DSL+VoIP.

DonGould

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#545116 14-Nov-2011 12:42

Skolink: I don't know but I find it very frustrating when I know so many people living in the NW sector of Christchurch who I can't switch over to naked DSL+VoIP.

What? Doesn't Snap service NW chch now?

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Skolink

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#545151 14-Nov-2011 13:35

DonGould:
Skolink: I don't know but I find it very frustrating when I know so many people living in the NW sector of Christchurch who I can't switch over to naked DSL+VoIP.

What? Doesn't Snap service NW chch now?

Arrg. I meant naked HFC cable.

NonprayingMantis

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#545155 14-Nov-2011 13:41

hamish225: The way i see it, they missed out on a big opportunity to undercut telecom. why did they stop building it?

It's obviously never going to happen now, such a waste!

Well, lets see.

Would you invest millions when you knew a rival was going to enter the same market in a short period of time and have a humongous government subsidy to allow them to compete with you?

D1023319

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#545160 14-Nov-2011 13:53

here how I remember it.
I thought Telstra stopped expanding becuase of the commerce monopolies commission.

When Saturn first started in 1990's, the were expanding fast as they undercut Telecom in cost and had a better service.

Telecom then started to drop their prices but only in the streets where Saturn was.
While I thought this would be monopolistic practice restricting competition - the commerce commision said it was ok of Telecom. It wasnt like rural vs urban pricing- Telecom could selectively drop prices down to individual streets. Personally that decision sucked!

That why I like Telstra apart from the service - without them we would have paid Telecom a lot more money over the years.

And of course the anti cable bridgade got involved here in wellington increasing the installation cost to go underground. It was funny when I challenged the anit cable group why they hated Saturn cables but liked the Trolley bus cables - they said that ws because trolley bus cables were good.

go figure eh

ObidiahSlope

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#545162 14-Nov-2011 13:58

They thought that the Commerce Commission was going to make Telecom unbundle, and they would be able to piggy-back on Telecom s copper cheaply.

Another reason that the roll-out was halted was that Telstra in Australia was being run by the American imports known mockingly as the Three Amigos. The Amigos would not spend a cent unless it added to their personal performance bonuses.

Obsequious hypocrite

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sbiddle

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#545185 14-Nov-2011 14:52

There are a myriad of reasons, two of which were pretty straight forward.

1 - The massive objections to their overhead cables, including in Porirua, Auckland, and in parts of Christchurch were they were in effect blocked from being able to deploy their HFC network.

2 - Cost.

jpollock

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#545197 14-Nov-2011 15:24

hamish225: The way i see it, they missed out on a big opportunity to undercut telecom. why did they stop building it?

It's obviously never going to happen now, such a waste!

Because they figured out it was cheaper to lobby successive governments for regulatory change than it was to roll out a competing network.

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DjShadow

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#545201 14-Nov-2011 15:29

Funny I always blamed the Auckland rollout not going ahead on John Banks (and those who hated the sight of big black cables)

freitasm

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#545210 14-Nov-2011 15:38

ObidiahSlope: They thought that the Commerce Commission was going to make Telecom unbundle, and they would be able to piggy-back on Telecom s copper cheaply.

Hmmm? Telecom did unbundle, as required, and TelstraClear has the largest number of devices in Telecom exchanges around the country.

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geekiegeek

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#545230 14-Nov-2011 16:03

It was the big black cables thing. I was one of the techs rolling it out at the time. Constant complaining from homeowners wanting the cables put underground even when everthing else was already above ground.

This meant a massive increase in cost to rollout and they couldnt justifiy the outlay any more.

Probably find that the same people complaining about high costs and lack of compitition were the same ones complaining about visable cables.

Also I'm pretty sure the buildout had stopped before TCL took over.

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quickymart

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#545285 14-Nov-2011 17:41

The rollout in Christchurch was officially "paused" in 2001 after Telstra Clear came into existence after buying Saturn, mostly due to the new company needing to cut costs and make money. As far as I know, the building of the network never resumed. Part of the reason was objections to the cables themselves, but the biggest reason was cost.

Ragnor

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#545329 14-Nov-2011 20:00

Yeah if Clear management buy out had succeeded instead of Telstra's offer history may have been different.

sbiddle

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#545386 14-Nov-2011 22:08

geekiegeek: Probably find that the same people complaining about high costs and lack of compitition were the same ones complaining about visable cables.

I'm aware of one group of residents in Karori or Northland who convinced TCL to trench a couple of streets to keep them happy. They then proceeded to complain about the green pedestals obstructing the footpath.

I'm also aware of one group of residents in Wgtn who were very vocal about TCL's overhead cabling but also protested against the plans to decommission parts of the trolley bus network when it was proposed in the late 90's. They seemed to have no issues with overhead trolley bus wires!

quickymart

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#545408 14-Nov-2011 23:16

It's funny, I remember one of my colleagues (at the time) saying that the people that were protesting about the cables were complaining because the cables blocked their views...of the other cables. Bit silly really.

I also remember when Telstra Saturn purchased Clear and merged the two companies as well...blast from the past:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=228557

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