Chorus moves to become an 'active' wholesale operation

Active wholesale declared at Chorus AGM

Chorus says it has become an 'active wholesaler' to stem the loss of customers to rival networks.

Chorus CEO Kate McKenzie revealed the move at the company's AGM. She says the number of connections on the Chorus network has fallen following Spark's move to push customers to its fixed wireless broadband services.

She says: “Total connections reduced by about 125,000 last year and by a further 20,000 in the first quarter to the end of September".

To deal with this Chorus has moved from being a passive wholesaler to taking a more active role.

Competitive motivations

In response, McKenzie said Chorus had “gone from being a passive wholesaler to being more active in the marketplace. We can’t rely on all retailers to promote our products for us when they have their own competitive motivations.”

Among other things this has lead to an information campaign highlighting the performance benefits of fibre broadband over a wireless service.

There has also been an advertising campaign promoting fibre. McKenzie told the AGM this is already showing results with defections to wireless slowing in recent months.

Fibre role for 5G wireless

At Stuff Tom Pullar-Strecker writes about another wholesale opportunity for Chorus. He quotes Chorus spokesman Ian Bonnar who says adding 5G access points to the Chorus fibre network would avoid duplication. Bonnar says Chorus would stick to its knitting, providing only the supporting infrastructure. He says the company has no plans to enter the mobile market.

Datacom plans $45 million data centre capacity investment

Datacom says it plans to spend $45 million upgrading data centres in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch. This, it says, will expand capacity by 40 percent and will be the most important upgrade since the data centres were first built.

The company says the move is to address what it describes as a “significant increase in enterprise and government cloud adoption in the country”.

Spark wins three TaaS certifications

Spark says it has Telecommunications-as-a-Service certification for three new services. These are two government networks and high-quality video conference service.

Companies like Spark need to be certified by the TaaS procurement panel before they can sell to government departments. Among other matters, services need to comply to the New Zealand Information Security Manual.

The idea behind TaaS is that it simplifies government purchasing. The panel was developed by the Department of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Spark client chief security information officer Ian Hurst says: “In the eyes of our customers, this TaaS certification is a personal recommendation from an independent source.

"Being able to run a national network and trans-Tasman services requires rigour and assurance oversight. Spark is constantly driving innovation without impacting the core capability or quality of our services."

Earlier this year Spark signed its 100th TaaS customer: the NZ Fire Service.

Spark extends mobile coverage in SI tourist spot

Spark has installed a metro cell spot in Okiwi Bay, a Marlborough Sounds holiday spot. The area had no coverage before now. The metro cell spot is a small scale mobile town located on the community hall. Its coverage extends about 300m. Usually these small cells boost coverage inside a building such as a shopping mall. But Spark also uses them to add coverage in small communities.

Vodafone TV launches, price details

Vodafone launched Vodafone TV on Thursday. As outlined at the announcement event, the service is only with a 12- or 24-month Vodafone Unlimited Fibre or Fibre X plan. Prices for the service are from $139.99 a month.

Nokia revives retro 3310 handset

The Nokia brand is back with a range of mobile phones including a revamped version of the 3310 handset which was popular at the start of last decade. The $100 phone is something of a novelty, it comes with the familiar Nokia ring tone and Snake game. But it makes a decent emergency handset. Spark has exclusive rights to the 3310.

New Zealand shoppers still prefer bricks and mortar

Half of all New Zealanders prefer physical shops to online retailers. A story in Reseller News quotes a recent survey from IDC, a research company. It found 53 percent of New Zealanders prefer physical shops. The number is out of step with the rest of the world where only 37 percent say they prefer to shop the old-fashioned way.

The story quotes IDC analyst Chayse Gorton who says: “New Zealand consumers highlighted trying devices in store as their second highest influencer of purchasing decisions and talking with sales people at a store also rated strongly.”

Amazon is opening in Australia. Most, including Gorton, think that will change things. He says: “If Amazon is successful in Australia, it is only a matter of time before it enters the New Zealand market.”