SKY and Vodafone NZ issued an announcement to the New Zealand Stock Exchange detailing a proposed merger of our two businesses.

We’re proposing to bring together Vodafone and SKY to create a leading integrated telecommunications and media business in New Zealand.

The merger is all about creating the future, today. Vodafone and SKY already have a commercial relationship in place and when you look at the synergies of these two brands, we are excited about the opportunity to facilitate rapid innovation in the development and delivery of digital content.

A merger of the two businesses will occur, with SKY purchasing Vodafone NZ and Vodafone Europe B.V. becoming a majority (51%) shareholder of SKY – a publicly listed company.

The Combined Group will be one of the largest companies listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange – this will be one of the most significant transactions for the New Zealand business landscape within the last five years.

Woosh Wireless, the Auckland-based wireless broadband operator, has gone into voluntary administration.

The company was founded in 1999 and has burnt through more than $100 million since then. It was bought by California-based Craig Wireless for US$5 million in 2011. In August 2015 it sold its fixed line network of 9,000 customers to rival broadband operator, Slingshot.

"Woosh hasn't been trading profitably for some time and there have been some service issues for its 2,000 customers," Jackson said. "We are also mindful of the customers who rely on Woosh Wireless for their landline and broadband services, particularly those in remote parts of New Zealand".

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11644756

Just like the banks, most of our larger NZ ISPs are becoming Aussie owned.

Pioneers who built NZ’s third biggest telco and broadband provider sell to Aussie firm.
M2 is publicly listed on the ASX and has revenues in excess of A$1 billion.
M2 said it would continue to operate the business as a stand-alone company and retain the management including Callander, who commented things would be "business as usual" for the telco - which is made up of CallPlus Business, Slingshot, Orcon, Flip and 2talk.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11432076

Cracks are emerging in internet providers' response to a legal threat from television companies over the access some are providing to overseas internet television services.
CallPlus is stalling over how it will respond to the threat of legal action from the country's top television firms over a service called Global Mode while another smaller internet provider, Unlimited Internet, has backed down and withdrawn its support for the service.

CallPlus, which owns the Slingshot, Orcon and Flip internet brands, is the largest of a group of internet providers offering Global Mode.
The service, developed by Auckland company Bypass Network Services (BPN), helps internet users subscribe to online services that are supposed to be blocked in New Zealand for copyright reasons, such as the United States version of internet television service Netflix.

Law firm Buddle Findlay, acting on behalf of Sky Television, Television New Zealand, MediaWorks and Spark subsidiary Lightbox, wrote to Slingshot, Orcon, BNS and some smaller internet providers including Unlimited Internet on Thursday.

The letter demanded they cease offering Global Mode by 5pm on April 15 or face immediate legal action.
The television companies claimed Global Mode "materially undermined" the value of New Zealand rights to programmes that they had legitimately bought and that their rights were being "knowingly and illegally impinged".

Unlimited Internet chief executive Ben Simpson said it had decided to stop offering Global Mode after receiving the legal threat.
It had been advised by lawyers that they would require a six-figure bond to defend any action and he was unwilling to fund what would be a "test case", he said.

Read the full Article by TOM PULLAR-STRECKER on Stuff.co.nz

No limits, no contracts, just broadband. That’s the slogan of New Zealand’s latest contender into the ISP market, Unlimited Internet.

The stripped back, BYO modem service features unlimited ADSL2+ plans from just $39 a month for users with a home phone line, or $69 a month for naked.

They expect the company to gain traction primarily through word of mouth, rather than flamboyant marketing campaigns.

Check out Unlimited Internet at http://unlimitedinternet.co.nz/

Google has handed out bouquets to New Zealand ISPs whose customers should be able to watch high-definition YouTube videos without buffering.

This list of ISP's who are "HD verified" include:

Orcon UFB Service
Slingshot UFB service
Telecom UFB Service

The list of ISP's who are Standard Definition SD (Still really good)

Actrix
CallPlus
Compass
Flip
HD
Inspire
Megatel
Orcon DSL
Voyager
Snap
Worldnet
WXC

Check your results here:
http://www.google.com/get/videoqualityreport/

Infrastructure company Chorus will have wear lower wholesale broadband prices for at least four months after regulators pushed back its final pricing review until April next year.

The Commerce Commission is undergoing a review of two sets of prices for copper wholesale broadband services. These are the prices Chorus charge internet retailers such as Vodafone and Orcon, who then onsell services to customers.

Initial decisions from the commission cut what Chorus charges for these services by 23 per cent, which the infrastructure company last November said would hit its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) by $142 million per annum.

The new prices come into effect from December this year.

Chorus, which is rolling out the lion's share of the Government's fibre-based ultra-fast broadband scheme, requested a wider review of both sets of prices from the Commission (known as a final pricing principle review).

Although the regulator was aiming to have both of these reviews completed by the time the price cuts come into force, the commission today said it aims for a draft decision on both sets of prices by December and a final decision by April 2015.

"While the Commission announced in March that it intended to produce a draft determination by August and complete a final decision by 1 December 2014, it has decided to change that time frame to allow for matters raised in the submissions from Chorus, Telecom, Vodafone, Callplus, Orcon and internet NZ," the regulator said this morning.

Chorus said it was "very disappointed" by today's news.

"While we acknowledge the FPP processes are challenging, we are very disappointed that the timetabling aims announced by the Commission in February have now been changed," said Chorus general counsel Vanessa Oakley.

"We agreed with the Commission's statements in March that prompt completion of those processes provided the best certainty for everyone. We also believed that appropriate levels of consultation could be undertaken within the original timeframe".

Although the lower wholesale prices will come into effect in December, Chorus said there was a precedent for backdating any change in the prices announced in its final April 2015 decision.

Advocacy group internetNZ said it welcomed the Commerce Commission's "sensible decision to extend the copper pricing consultation" and said it will provide a better result for Kiwi consumers and businesses alike.

Press Release – New Zealand Labour Party

The heat should be put on Chorus to extend its #Gigatown prize to all communities where it is laying out state-funded fibre following moves by another provider to offer its own gigabit speed service, Labours ICT spokesperson Clare Curran says.Clare

CURRAN

ICT Spokesperson

12 June 2014 MEDIA STATEMENT
Chorus under pressure to make all towns ‘gigatowns’

The heat should be put on Chorus to extend its #Gigatown prize to all communities where it is laying out state-funded fibre following moves by another provider to offer its own gigabit speed service, Labour’s ICT spokesperson Clare Curran says.

“UltraFast Fibre’s announcement of ‘gigabit’ services to eight towns across the central North Island confirms Chorus’ social media #Gigatown competition is nothing more than just a cynical public relations exercise.

“The initiative also raises questions around low take-up of the Government’s Ultrafast Broadband (UFB) programme and the ongoing saga of Chorus pushing for higher prices on copper to protect its profit base.

“Why, for instance, is UltraFast Fibre able to offer a gigabit service to eight towns in the central North Island while Chorus, the biggest provider of the fibre rollout, is forcing communities throughout New Zealand to compete amongst themselves?

“Ultrafast Fibre is offering a residential 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) broadband service across its network from next month.

“By contrast, Chorus has been pushing local councils around New Zealand to fund social media promotions of its #Gigatown competition where one town will win three years access to a wholesale gigabit service plus a $200,000 innovation fund.

“There has been growing concern around #Gigatown, with criticism that it is costing councils’ money despite little likelihood of a return to their communities; that there would only be one winner, and that the winning community would only be able to access the service subject to a retail service provider coming on board, along with other factors outside the community’s and Chorus’ control.

“Labour applauds UltraFast Fibre’s initiative to offer a higher grade service. It fits with our philosophy that every community throughout New Zealand should be a ‘gigatown’.

Christchurch ultra-fast broadband company Enable Services is not offering local households the chance to become "giganaires" just yet.
Enable said its current residential products were 30 megabits a second and 100Mbps.
It would be launching a new 200Mbps residential service in the coming months.
"We have the capability to develop and deliver faster residential fibre broadband services - including up to and beyond 1Gbps," the Enable spokesman said.

Enable is a wholesaler of ultra-fast connections and the likes of Telecom, Vodafone and Snap are the retailers to households.

For the third time in it’s history, Telecom NZ have launched unlimited broadband plans. Catering to UFB, VDSL and ADSL – the plans put the nation’s largest ISP (approx. 50% market share) in competition with ISPs who have traditionally been those focused on unlimited plans.

ISP Review is a great place to go to check which ISPs are offering the best and most economical packages for your internet connection.
All the work has been done for you ... so no more trolling through a multitude of internet plans trying to compare and figure out which plan is best for you.

At a glance you can see which ISPs are offering the best pricing and whether you have to be locked into a contract term or not.

ISP Review is a free public service with plans and pricings being updated on a regular basis.