Download Weekly: Stuff Fibre in media play

Stuff Fibre is to offer Stuff Pix, a movie streaming service, from early next year. The service provider says it has a catalogue of movies which can be watched online for between $1 and $7 each.

The Stuff Pix operation will be run by general manager Paddy Buckley who previously headed Quickflix in New Zealand.

Media is embedded in the fabric of Stuff Fibre. The ISP is a joint venture part-owned by Fairfax New Zealand which owns a considerable number of media properties. With rival service providers also dabbling in online media, it has an opportunity to differentiate itself from the pack.

Netflix dominates NZ streaming

Stuff Pix is a relatively modest and possibly late entry into the streaming market which is dominated by Netflix. The company only offers a list of 600 movies and they are not-exclusive.

Buckley says the operation is a replacement for closed video stores, not a Netflix competitor. It will be open to all internet users and its main attraction will be price. There is no subscription fee. Instead customers pay a one-off fee to view.

He says the prices will be the lowest on the market. While it is technically possible to buy movies for less by parallel importing, customers need to set up a VPN (virtual private network).

New Zealand's two largest ISPs, Vodafone and Spark, have their own media offering. Vodafone resells Sky TV content through its Vodafone TV service. It isn't cheap, but has an extensive catalogue of material and exclusive rights to popular sporting codes. Meanwhile Spark has its Lightbox streaming service.

Spark 4.5G.. and Taupō makes 30

Spark has added three towers to its 4.5G network in Taupō, making 30 towers in total. The 4.5G towers are at Crown Road, Taupō Exchange and Taupō Central.

It's an aggressive update programme. Rival mobile networks Vodafone and 2degrees have yet to publicly announced any upgraded towers.

The move is so aggressive that almost no-one is able to use all the extra wireless broadband speed on offer. While the latest high-end phones can deal with some 4.5G features, in general there's no everyday hardware ready to use the network.

Spark says suitably equipped users can get speeds that are between and three and five times faster than everyday 4G mobile.

The company says the upgraded towers mean greater capacity to serve fixed wireless broadband customers, although the service has data caps that are low by 2017 standards.

Chorus executive moves

Chorus has confirmed Joanna Crawford as the permanent general manager of customer care. She previous held the job in an acting capacity.

Regulatory strategy manager Vanessa Oakley is now general manager of strategy and business operations. Oakley replaces Scott Newton who has resigned. Newton only arrived at the company in August.

The network company says it will recruit a general counsel and company secretary in the New Year.

Paris quits Spark

Jason Paris, CEO of Spark's Home, Mobile and Business division is to leave the company early next year. A statement from Spark says Paris is to take a leadership position with a "large global business, based offshore".

Paris spent six years at Spark. He joined when the company was called Telecom and helped drive through the company name change.

Union wants inquiry into UFB work exploitation claims

The E tū union says workers building parts of the UFB fibre network were being exploited by Chorus contractors. In one case, an employee of Frontier Communications, a Visionstream subcontractor, was paid less than the minimum wage. Elsewhere contractors used unpaid volunteers.

Chorus says it is working with all contractors and subcontractors to make sure all employment complies with the law. The company says the reported cases are isolated incidents and that it has sought and received confirmation from its partners that all health and safety and employment standards are being rigorously enforced and checked.

Enable adds 10,000 fibre connections in a month

Christchurch local fibre company Enable says it added 10,000 more fibre connections to its network in the last month. It is the largest number added in a month since the company started building fibre in Christchurch and Canterbury six years ago.

The company says its network now passes 180,000 homes and businesses. The build programme is almost 95 percent complete.

Amazon brings voice control internet hub to NZ

Amazon says its Alexa voice-controlled online service and Echo speaker will be available in New Zealand next year. The company also announced a $US100 million venture fund to invest in businesses outside the US who focus on Alexa.

Spark blockchain

Spark's Revera cloud service operation is working with Nyriad, a Cambridge-based start-up, to pilot a blockchain service for managing sensitive data. The technology makes it harder for criminals to get hold of data.

Gosling elected new Tuanz chair

AUT University CIO Liz Gosling has been elected as Tuanz chair. She is the tenth chair since Tuanz was incorporated in 1986 and the second woman chair.

2016/17 Telco Development Levy finalised

The Commerce Commission released its final decision on the $50 million Telecommunications Development Levy for 2016/17. The levy is, in effect, an additional tax on telecommunications companies. In round numbers it adds about one percent to the end user cost of telecommunications services.

The money raised is used to pay for rural broadband, fixing mobile blackspot, 111 emergency calling and services to help deaf people use phones.

As in previous years, New Zealand's largest telco Spark will pay the lion's share: almost $18 million. The five biggest companies: Spark, Vodafone, Chorus, 2degrees and Vocus will pay around $48 million of the $50 million total.