Telecom Outlines New Technology Investment Plans

TELECOM OUTLINES NEW TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT PLANS

Next generation services to be piloted with home customers next year

Telecom today outlined the next phase of its $1 billion investment in the Next Generation Network and the new services it will enable for business and residential customers.

“We’re well advanced with the work we’re doing with Alcatel to roll out a totally new network infrastructure across New Zealand,” Telecom Chief Operating Officer New Zealand Simon Moutter said today.

“Over the next few years we will deliver a host of new services for customers. We’ve recently made some key decisions about the next steps in this 10-year investment programme. They include not just the background infrastructure, which in time will deliver exponentially increasing bandwidth to customers, but also the timeframes for the pilots and commercial roll-outs of new services.

“New Zealanders are going to be using a lot of new communications services that would never have been possible without the investment we’re making and the global expertise that our partner Alcatel is bringing to the country,” Mr Moutter said.

Highlights of the package:

$120 million investment in fibre network over five years.

• Fibre to the curb (FTTC) is to be extended to increase the capacity and bandwidth of residential broadband and enable new services

• Telecom has already provided fibre to 1100 roadside cabinets and will extend fibre to 1000 more cabinets over the next five years

• The five-year, $120 million investment in FTTC will enable new services for business and residential customers, including video, very high speed internet access and many other new services

• FTTC will be extended to “Fibre to the premises” (FTTP) once demand for speed, capacity and new services develops in the residential market

$10 million fibre pilot for residential and business customers.

• The Flatbush residential subdivision and the Highbrook commercial development project in Manukau will be the locations for a $10 million pilot of fibre to the premises (FTTP)

• The pilot will test the technologies to deliver services over a fibre infrastructure for business and residential customers

• Telecom will use the pilot to make decisions about the possible future extension of fibre from the roadside cabinets (FTTC) to customer premises

$ 110 million to continue to extend services based on its copper cable network over the next three years.

• Telecom will invest over $110 million in enhancing data services over the copper cable network over the next three years

• This will include enhancements of our broadband equipment to prepare for new business and consumer services and meet New Zealand’s increasing growth in demand for data services capacity

• In addition, Telecom will continue to increase the numbers of places where customers can access data services

$125 million investment in the core network over five years.

• An investment of $25 million a year over five years will increase the capacity of the core fibre network to meet growing bandwidth demand and develop the next stage of the multi-service network which will eventually carry all Telecom’s voice, data, Internet and video traffic.

• To ensure Telecom’s backbone network meets the demands for capacity and bandwidth, new fibre routes are to be installed between Auckland, Hamilton, the Central North Island and Lower South Island.

• In addition, the capacity of existing fibre is to be extended to cope with expected demands

First Phase of Replacement of Telephone Network underway.

• Telecom has started the replacement of its telephone network with the replacement of its ISDN service

• A new Alcatel next generation exchange will be installed in Auckland to provide ISDN services in 2005

• Detailed planning is underway to replace 600 exchanges and remote line concentrators with new IP technology over the next eight years

ENDS

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