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Telecom Again

Entry 72, on 2004-10-21 at 14:39:25 (Rating 4, News)

Since my blog entry yesterday, where I commented on my distrust for Telecom (for overseas readers, Telecom is New Zealand's main telecommunications company) several other stories have been bought to my attention.

It turns out that Telecom is even worse than I thought. They have been involved in dirty tricks in every area they have influence. In the case of cell phones they have formed a duopoly with Vodafone where neither are interested in reducing cell phone costs, even though they easily could.

Telecom is losing in the mobile area but are still a virtual monopoly in conventional land lines. They keep mobile costs high to maintain use of cheaper land lines, which they also overcharge for.

They are also using blatantly anti-competitive tactics in providing broadband Internet services. They were forced to make the network available to other providers but changed the rules half way through the negotiations, making planning impossible for the other providers.

Of course, the government should be doing something about this, but for some reason they seem to be too scared despite consistent warnings from the Commerce Commission, Consumer, the Internet Users Society, etc. Maybe they are scared of discouraging foreign investment by applying regulation to the industry. Personally, I've never seen a single case of foreign investment benefitting the country, its just an excuse for big foreign companies to rip us off, as far as I can see. I think we should be discouraging it!

Comment 1 (25) by stacey on 2005-04-21 at 16:57:42:

can u plz go in2 more detail regarding ur comment "In the case of cell phones they have formed a duopoly with Vodafone" ? Is it difficult to enter this market with your own cell phones?

Comment 2 (26) by OJB on 2005-04-21 at 22:12:44:

To be honest, I can't remember the exact event which resulted in this particular anti-Telecom tirade! However, there is no doubt that we are grossly overcharged by both companies, and its is a well known fact that two competitors in a market often result in little advantage over there being only one.

Comment 3 (167) by Anonymous on 2006-01-26 at 18:29:13:

I think ur f---ed up... wacko... Telecom is fine... they don't overcharge. They charge what they need to stay afloat... man ur a wack job.

Comment 4 (168) by OJB on 2006-01-27 at 11:21:59:

Well after a message like that I will leave it to others to decide whether it is me or the anonymous person who is the "wack job". How can shipping almost a billion dollars a year overseas as profit be seen as "charging what they need to stay afloat". I think the person above is very naive if they believe that!

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