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Posts Tagged ‘TUANZ’

Hope new TUANZ CEO will be a strong independent voice

Posted by Clare Curran on October 29th, 2010

Just announced.

TUANZ is pleased to announce that Paul Brislen has accepted the role of Chief Executive, starting in the new year. Paul has been both an observer and participant in the telco sector for the past decade, first as a journalist and commentator and lately as the corporate communications manager at Vodafone New Zealand.

Paul replaces Ernie Newman. I know him and he’s a good operator. And I hope he’ll be a strong independent voice in the telecommunications industry which we urgently need at this time. There is a huge amount of uncertainty and frustration about ultrafast broadband. The government’s secrecy and slowness around how and who will roll out our newest and most important new network for generations is painful and requires more voices speaking out.

Just yesterday, Rod Drury from Xero expressed his frustrations at the Rural Broadband Symposium in Rotorua  about the Government’s handling of the UFB and the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI). He called for a circuit breaker.

I think it’s a really scary time for the industry, there’s a lot of uncertainty and I think everyone’s scared that there’s winners and losers. Standing back from it, the bit that frustrates me is that there doesn’t seem to be a national technology plan. We’re in a process and the process means that people can’t actually talk to each other so it’s quite frustrating.”

What really scares me is the demand side’s not there, so if the government is putting fibre past the curb, what’s the reason for a consumer to connect to that? As important as the work that’s happening in the industry, somebody should be out talking to Apple and working out how do we actually get at all that US content onto our networks, how do we buy that stuff rather than an arcane little company in the middle of Newmarket that’s got some distribution rights. We’ve got to work out where these content pools are so that consumers want to spend $100 or $150 a month on broadband, because it’s going to need that sort of money for the business case to work.

Well it’s about time a few more people said publicly what they think. I hope TUANZ will.

 

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Filed under: broadband, comms & IT
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Ernie and me

Posted by Clare Curran on July 28th, 2010

Yesterday Labour expressed major concerns about the Government’s ultrafast broadband project; that two measures underway could derail the goal of affordable and accessible broadband services for New Zealanders.

First, that an operational separation variation request by Telecom NZ could mean to the end of operational separation.

This was a major achievement for New Zealand and has resulted in real competition in the telco sector.

Second, the revelation that the Local Fibre Companies, the private public partnerships set up to manage the $1.5 billion broadband project, will enjoy a 10 year regulatory holiday locking out the Commerce Commission from reviewing prices for fibre available to New Zealand consumers.

Labour has serious concerns that together, the two changes would in essence entrench unscrupulous monopolistic behaviour and keep the Commerce Commission out of the fibre industry for ten years.

Internet NZ has expressed similar concerns. TUANZ, which represents many of the big players in the broadband and telco sector has also expressed some concerns.

I made a mistake by intimating that TUANZ had similar concerns to InternetNZ’s fears that the operational separation variation request by Telecom NZ may amount to the end of operational separation.

I apologise to Ernie Newman, TUANZ CEO, for that. But, I would be very surprised if TUANZ did not share Labour’s and InternetNZ’s concerns. I look forward to talking further with Ernie about it. Will happily supply the muffins.

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Filed under: broadband, comms & IT
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Telco consumers need a voice and guaranteed standards

Posted by Clare Curran on March 3rd, 2010

Thoughtful editorial by the NZ Herald yesterday about Telecom’s XT woes, its culpability and the possible role of government.

Two sentences I particularly agree with:

“Few things are guaranteed to raise ire as much as a useless piece of expensive technology.”

“There comes a point when nothing can compensate for a piece of equipment that does not work when needed.”

I also agree with Ernie Newman of the Telecommunication Users Association (TUANZ) who says that if Telecom did not do something drastic to help its customers, it was time for the Government to step into what was a national economic issue.

But what I don’t agree with is the Herald’s conclusion that:

such a situation would exist only if Telecom enjoyed monopoly status in the mobile-phone market. Such is not the case, with Vodafone and the fledgling 2degrees offering competition. That means it falls to Telecom’s customers to punish the company if they so wish.

Three points to make here.

The XT network is part of New Zealand’s core infrastructure. People rely on it for communication; social, business and emergency. Competition does not overturn this. Steven Joyce is moving in this direction by indicating that mobile performance standards may be regulated under the TSO (the old Kiwi share). We agree but regret it is necessary.

Then there’s consistent standards. The failure of 111 has drawn attention to the nature of our critical infrastructure. Too many NZers rely on mobile phones for most, if not all their calls for this not to be an issue. Are there consistent standards for delivery of service to NZers? Are there consistent standards that a network must meet in order to remain viable?

And a government that takes information access seriously ought to be procative about ensuring progress towards universal availablity and reliability.

And finally, who should be representing the voices of New Zealand people on these issue? TUANZ has a mandate to represent the players in the marketplace. It does a good job, but its mandate isn’t to speak on behalf of New Zealand domestic consumers.

Consumer NZ has made one statement to my knowledge, advising XT customers to contact Telecom if they have problems or rival networks to negotiate the best deal. That’s fine, but it’s not really sticking up for people is it.

As for the Ministry of Consumer Affairs! What is it that they do again? Under Heather Roy?

That leaves the Labour Opposition.

In Australia, the Communications Minister Stephen Conroy recognised there was a gap early on and established (and properly funded) a new body to represent consumers; ACCAN, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network.

This is what they do, and I think New Zealand should consider whether it needs a similar body.

ACCAN is the peak body that represents all consumers on communications issues including telecommunications, broadband and emerging new services. ACCAN provides a strong unified voice to industry and government as consumers work towards availability, accessibility and affordability of communications services for all Australians. Consumers need ACCAN to promote better consumer protection outcomes ensuring speedy responses to complaints and issues.

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Filed under: comms & IT, infrastructure
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