Vocus and Vodafone NZ have formed a joint venture to work on unbundling the New Zealand government's Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) fibre network in a bid to take customers away from Chorus and local fibre companies (LFCs).
Vocus and Vodafone NZ have formed a joint venture to work on unbundling the New Zealand government's Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) fibre network in a bid to take customers away from Chorus and local fibre companies (LFCs).
Unbundling UFB services will enable third-party provider access to the network, which the companies said would bring more competition as well as more tailored broadband products such as 10Gbps services and low-latency services for gamers.
"The joint venture will involve scoping, designing, and investing in unbundling the fibre local loops of the four LFCs, with a view to providing wholesale fibre products to the retail market in competition with LFCs," Vocus and Vodafone said on Tuesday morning.
The New Zealand Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee had recently recommended the unbundling of fibre services by 2020 [PDF], with Vodafone and Vocus saying they will begin offering consumer and business-grade services in January that year.
"We don't see any reason to delay now that the government has given the green light for unbundling to get under way from 2020," Vodafone NZ CEO Russell Stanners said during an announcement alongside Vocus NZ CEO Mark Callander.
"After six years, the four LFCs have delivered a small number of retail fibre products to consumers; compare that to unbundled markets like Singapore, where retailers are able to fully customise their products to meet the needs of different consumers. This level of innovation and competition is what we want to see in New Zealand."
The two companies have also issued a request for proposal on Layer 1 wholesale services and pricing from LFCs.
Unbundling UFB services will enable third-party provider access to the network, which the companies said would bring more competition as well as more tailored broadband products such as 10Gbps services and low-latency services for gamers.
"The joint venture will involve scoping, designing, and investing in unbundling the fibre local loops of the four LFCs, with a view to providing wholesale fibre products to the retail market in competition with LFCs," Vocus and Vodafone said on Tuesday morning.
The New Zealand Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee had recently recommended the unbundling of fibre services by 2020 [PDF], with Vodafone and Vocus saying they will begin offering consumer and business-grade services in January that year.
"We don't see any reason to delay now that the government has given the green light for unbundling to get under way from 2020," Vodafone NZ CEO Russell Stanners said during an announcement alongside Vocus NZ CEO Mark Callander.
"After six years, the four LFCs have delivered a small number of retail fibre products to consumers; compare that to unbundled markets like Singapore, where retailers are able to fully customise their products to meet the needs of different consumers. This level of innovation and competition is what we want to see in New Zealand."
The two companies have also issued a request for proposal on Layer 1 wholesale services and pricing from LFCs.