Editorial
Telecom Faces Competition -- Really?
The media went crazy yesterday when it was announced that Telstra and Saturn were getting into bed to battle the mighty Telecom and save Kiwis from the tyranny of Sky TV and excessive phone bills.

Excuse me for not getting caught up in the hysteria but I'm perhaps a little more skeptical about what this means to the average Kiwi.

If we analyse this announcement a little more closely we see that it's really little more than a case of the existing services provided by Saturn being rolled out in a handful of other high population density areas.

Okay, so there's going to be more than a billion dollars spent over the next five years building the kind of fibre-optic network that is currently confined to a tiny section of a Wellington suburb. How far do you think that much money will go though?

The truth is that laying fibre is expensive and this means that Telstra-Saturn, if they've got their heads screwed on, will be looking to cover only those areas where there's a relatively high density of middle to upper class residents.

Indeed, the press release issued yesterday would tend to indicate that only a tiny percentage of the total NZ population will benefit from this new deal.

Still, I guess it's better than nothing -- or is it?

Believe it or not, I reckon the Telecom board-room was probably jubilant on hearing the Telstra-Saturn announcement.

"What?" I hear you say.

Think about it. Telecom has been accused of abusing its monopoly on the local loop. In fact, the government has just committed millions of dollars to fund an inquiry into Telecom's monopolistic activities.

Now, as the tears of joy wash down their faces, Telecom's executives can turn around to government and say "what monopoly? Haven't you heard? You don't need to regulate us -- Telstra Saturn is spending over a billion dollars to directly compete with us in the local loop market."

Whether the government falls for this or not remains to be seen -- but it can't be denied that Telstra Saturn's announcement sure does weaken any argument of an unchallenged monopoly.

From Yesterday
After criticising XTRA's seemingly outdated news I ended up exchanging a few emails with their amiable News Producer who informed me that the story I was seeking had actually been posted to the site but it had been categorised under "Political News" rather than the "NZ News" section where I was looking.

He also admitted that perhaps it was a little confusing but the time/date I saw at the top of the page was not necessarily indicative of the last time the page was updated -- it's just the dateline of the top story.

So there you go -- check out XTRA's news section and decide for yourself how it ranks with the others that were listed yesterday.

As always, your comments are gladly received.

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