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Ihug Strikes Access Deal With Telecom

Posted on: Friday, 24 December 2004, 15:00 CST

Ihug has reached an agreement with Telecom about access to Telecom's high-speed internet plans.

Ihug said yesterday it would offer high-speed 1 and 2 Megabit per second (Mbps) plans over Telecom's unbundled bitstream service (UBS) in January.

It has been chasing the high-speed plans since they were unveiled in September.

In November, ihug lodged an application for a determination with the Commerce Commission for access to the Mbps plans, which has now been withdrawn.

It had access to the plans on a resale basis, ihug's general manager David Diprose said. "It's thanks to improved terms of Jetstream wholesale that we're able to do this."

The changes made within the last week include split billing, allowing consumers to keep a phone line with Telecom and get broadband from another provider, and improved options for international bandwidth.

Despite not having the level of flexibility of the full UBS, Diprose said the new terms had made reselling the high-speed plans a more viable offering.

Telecom's general manager of government and industry affairs Bruce Parkes said the offer was an industry- wide one. "With the changes we've made to wholesaled Jetstream, we would anticipate widespread interest," Parkes said.

Ihug would retail the plans on its bliink range, Diprose said, hoping to undercut Telecom's retail price for its 1 and 2 mbps plans.

Diprose said when the full UBS plans became available in March next year, ihug would switch over to those.

Telecom is offering a 256 Kbps UBS service, with higher speed plans available from March.

Telecom's share price yesterday rallied 5c to 597.

Source: Press, The; Christchurch, New Zealand

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