Vocus, Vodafone push back on Chorus’ unbundled fibre price

Vocus and Vodafone, the two telcos partnering to unbundle UFB fibre, were quick to register opposition to Chorus' unbundled fibre pricing.

Chorus released its proposal on Thursday. The wholesale network company proposes that service providers wanting to unbundle pay a monthly access charge of $28.70 per line. This covers the fibre line from the customer to the nearest node or splitter.

In addition, there is a $200 monthly charge to connect each splitter back to a handover point. A splitter usually provides connection to 16 customers.

Layer 1, layer 2

These layer 1 prices compare with between around $40 and $65 a month for bundled, layer 2 fibre service connections. The relatively small price gap between layer 1 and layer 2 is because fibre whole prices are regulated and depend on input costs. There is only a small difference between the input costs for layer 1 and layer 2.

By law, New Zealand's fibre wholesalers must offer a commercial unbundling option by the start of 2020. At this stage prices are unregulated. The Commerce Commission expects wholesalers to negotiate with service providers wishing to unbundle. If this fails, the regulator may choose to step in.

In a press release Vocus CEO Mark Callander says the maths just doesn’t stack up. He says: "...the Commerce Commission will now need to intervene, it’s as simple as that. The UFB network was designed to be unbundled and ultimately is an asset that the government has helped fund."

Vodafone told the New Zealand Herald that the Chorus proposal would see broadband prices rise by $40 a month. But as Chorus points out, there is no change to the regulated layer 2 service price.

Chorus has given the industry until May 7 to provide its feedback on the proposed price.

British security oversight finds Huawei flaws, warns of risks

An oversight board, which includes staff from Britain's GCHQ intelligence agency, has found continued problems with Huawei's software development. It says the Chinese equipment maker has failed to fix long-standing security flaws in its mobile network equipment. The board also revealed new "significant technical issues".

The findings put further pressure on Huawei which faces an uphill battle convincing western governments, including New Zealand, that its equipment could not be used for spying or economic sabotage. The issue has come to the fore as nations gear up to build 5G mobile networks.

Britain's National Cyber Security Centre is quoted in the report saying: "It does not believe that the defects identified are a result of state interference."

Huawei issued a statement saying it takes the board's concerns
"very seriously". It says the issues identified by the board "provide vital input for the ongoing transformation of our software engineering capabilities".

CommComm warns Vocus' Slingshot brand over misleading ads

The Commerce Commission has warned Slingshot, now a Vocus brand, for a likely Fair Trading Act breach.

In 2017 and 2018 Slingshot ran online advertising campaign offered consumers a 10 percent discount for bundling broadband and electricity services. The Commerce Commission says the ads mislead customers by not telling them upfront that the discount only applies if they paid by the due date.

There is a warning, but it only came at the end of the sign-up process. Slingshot has since changed its advertising to comply.

Spark signs Vodafone, 2degrees to anti-terror campaign

Vodafone and 2degrees were among the first companies to get behind Spark's Share No Evil online campaign. The goal is to deprive terrorists of the publicity they seek. As a first step there's an extension for Google's Chrome browser than blocks the name of the Christchurch shooter when it appears on website.

Apple launches Netflix competitor with TV+

Apple says it will launch a video on demand service later this year. Following Netflix's model, the company says its TV+ service will include original content as well content from popular channels. There will be pay-per-view options as well as a subscription service. Apple will deliver TV+ via an app which it will offer on all of its products as well as a number of smart TVs and set-top boxes.

Residential aged care folk on wrong side of digital divide

An InternetNZ study found aged care residents depend on family and friends to stay connected. Dr Wendy Wrapson, a social psychologist at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) says people living in aged care homes are vulnerable to being left behind when it comes to online technologies.

She says: “The research shows that family and friends play an important role in supporting and encouraging residents to use digital technologies. It is often a family member who purchases the device, arranges the wi-fi connection and sets up any software. Even if the resident doesn’t use technology themselves, family and friends will bring their own devices to share photos and videos."

Kordia sees upswing in building upgrades in preparation for 5G

CommsDay reports Kordia has tripled the size of its Australian design and engineering team to meet increased demand for in-building 5G network upgrades. The company says demand is coming from carriers, building owners, developers and tenants. It says the building fit-outs also include greater use of fibre.

Matthew Madden, Kordia head of sales in Australia and NZ told CommsDay: “A widely quoted statistic is that 80 percent of mobile phone calls originate and terminate in a building. And while it's relatively easy for voice to penetrate into a building, once you're doing higher data speeds the tolerance in terms of latency is much lower”.