Commission monitoring broadband uptake

Telecom held to its commitment of 250,000 residential customers by end of 2005

The Commerce Commission says it is starting to collect Telecom’s DSL subscriber numbers in order to monitor the uptake of broadband in New Zealand.

Spokeswoman Jackie Maitland says the numbers will be gathered either directly from Telecom or the wholesale channel, with the aggregate figures to be publicly released each quarter. Maitland says the first quarter is from July to September this year, and the figures will be released in November.

Maitland says the monitoring is "based on Telecom’s commitment to establish 250,000 residential customer by the end of 2005", but won’t comment on whether meeting that figure is an ultimatum from the Commission and the Government which, if missed, would lead to local loop unbundling.

Telecom’s chief executive, Theresa Gattung, said in June that Telecom is keen to work with the government to deliver results. Gattung also said that Telecom’s target of 250,000 residential customers by the end of 2005 "would be a valuable step towards the government’s goal", as outlined in the recently released Digital Strategy paper.