Faster, Cheaper Broadband

Firstly well done to Telecom for their new range of broadband packages. There are up to 90% price reductions, and increases in both download and uoload speeds. A good step forward.

It’s amazing what can be done when it is suddenly clear the Government is going to take action, and everyone from the PM to the NBR is saying things have to change. The challenge ahead is to have a market structure where the owner of the local loop has a permament incentive to meet market demand, and not to have to rely on 18 months of commerce commission action etc to get better packages.

And as much as Telecom cheekily plays down the influence of the commerce commission action on these offerings it is worth recalling that they fought incredibly strongly against having the same wholesale fee for residential and business. They lost and this was set at $27 for both. The retail business packages which were as high as $2,400 a month have dropped to under $100.

As I said at the beginning these new offerings look a pretty good improvement. However I haven’t seen full details yet, especially on data caps. If the data caps have not been increased then a connection four times as quick may just use up the monthly data cap four times as quickly!