Internet society blows its top over broadband

NZ is slipping behind — and Telecom needs to act, says InternetNZ

New Zealand is falling behind other countries in internet uptake, according to InternetNZ — and it's pleading with Telecom to change its ways.

The society yesterday issued a “call to action” to Telecom to stop messing about with half-measures generated by “poorly thought-out marketing plans” and to take New Zealand “out of the broadband backblocks” with a true generally available broadband offering of at least 2Mbit/s downstream and 512kbit/s up.

Executive director Peter Macaulay says New Zealand's economic health and hopes for an educated society depend on better high-speed internet. The nation is at a watershed, he says.

“We’ve done this now because we’ve been watching what’s going on recently with Telecom’s offerings,” Macaulay says. Having announced a 256kbit/s bitstream offering for wholesale to other ISPs, Telecom then trumped it with a faster offering of its own. “This is creating huge confusion in the marketplace."

“I could understand it if Telecom were in a truly competitive situation," Macaulay says. “That’s the sort of thing you could see a company in that position doing: put out 512kbit/s, see whether it flies, then maybe try 1Mbit/s. But there is no real [nationwide] competition there, so it’s pointless playing these games.”

In its written statement, InternetNZ calls firstly for an agreed and realistic definition of broadband. “We must stop using the term 'broadband' to describe neutered technology which is driven by poorly thought-out marketing plans.

“To be described as broadband, the access method must deliver a minimum 2Mbit/s from the main network connection to the subscriber, and 500kbit/s from the consumer to the network," Macaulay says. "This is easily achieved using today’s DSL equipment in most New Zealand locations.”

InternetNZ believes Telecom should replace all its DSL products with just two:

• Jetstream starter. "Although not broadband this provides an entry point for current dialup customers, and is easily upgraded," he says.
• Jetstream galaxy. "Full unchoked DSL, with no charge for domestic volume." InternetNZ believes caps on speed or a small surcharge for international volume "might be acceptable".
  

"Both these products would be wholesaled and have no artificial restrictions on the services allowed. Telecom Xtra will resell the service on the same basis as all other ISPs," says Macaulay.

“There is no strategic, technical, marketing, legal, moral or any other argument to prevent Telecom doing this today. Please Telecom, listen to those of us who are looking at the future of the internet and act immediately.”

The timing of the statement is also influenced by the development of the high-capacity Advanced Research and Education Network and demonstrations late last week of the super-videoconferencing Access Grid which will be one of its most common applications, and by the upcoming second National Broadband Applications Project conference. “There’s going to be a lot said and thought about broadband in the next few months and we want people to remember that InternetNZ took this position,” Macaulay says.

DSL is the chief hope for real broadband at present, he says. In the not-too-distant future, it will yield to wireless and fibre-to-the-home. “Telecom should recognise that DSL technology has a limited lifetime, and we should be using it to its full capacity now."