Anybody notice that the company that bought Telecom's directory business are outsourcing 018 to the Philipines? And did you know they've already put the price up to 50 cents?

I thought the price had been 50 cents for a while. But then again, I haven't used the service in about…

I'd love to invest in those guys. They have a genuine monopoly and unrestricted pricing power (up to whatever sum you'd…

We've had years of a duopoly mobile market, teased by the promise of Econet or the potential of network sharing (TelstraClear) without any genuine change. Speaking of which, anyone know when TelstraClear transition over to Telecom?

I actually think they should open the Cullen Fund up to Kiwisaver investors, using Kiwibank or others as the retailer.

I'll concur with that. It does seem strange to have a big NZ investment fund, which I understand is doing pretty well in terms of financial return, and not have…

I actually think they should open the Cullen Fund up to Kiwisaver investors, using Kiwibank or others as the retailer.

It would make very little difference to me how Kiwisaver came by it's profits on my investment UNLESS…

Insolent, the last thing we want is more privatisation. We've already established that, where key infrastructure is concerned, leaving it to the private sector is a recipe for getting shafted – Telecom, AIAL, electrickery... all private, all gouging the users.

What an amusing claim. AIAL is mostly publicly-owned. The vast…

Prestigious Private Prep-school

Prissy Potential Prime Minister

Ron Moore['s] dialogue is so much better.

You are sooo right there. Bob Dylan's isn't bad either (you'll see what I mean). Interestingly, the brilliant "Butterfingers!" was improv.

Now if it was Roslin v Baltar, I'd be interested.

I hear Baltar continues to get his end off in season four

Well, Gaius Baltar's truly freaky exercise in damage control (and nothing is more damaging than being on trial for your life) is about all the 'person of the people' flummery I can handle at the moment. Key and…

I've still got half the season three box of Battlestar Galactica to get though...

Sorry, no luck, but the courtroom drama's pretty good at the end. If it's any consolation, I hear Baltar continues to get his end off in season four and you might see some of that, probably…

Similarly low-policy-content. That's not what they're for.

Folks who are already convinced John Key is the anti-Christ are unmoved.

Folks who are already convinced John Key is the Second Coming, ditto.

How its going to play with the peasants who aren't politically obsessive blog-reading policy nerds? Don't know, and care even…

(Before Craig gets up in arms, allow me to reiterate that Pete Hodgson, the senior minister on the day, was incoherent, and people did notice.)

Not at all. If Cunliffe knows his shit well enough to stand up before an audience of industry insiders and the geekerati without making a…

He's right. And I was conscious of the distinction between the intellectually impressive Cunliffe speech (DPF described it as "superb" in the radio interview we did) and the vacuous presentation of Key. It's depressing to ponder that the video might actually be more effective.

What Key did was rip-off Rudd's…

I am reminded of the Ma Bell carve-up in America in the early 80s, which was outright amputation, compared to the surgery Telecom is undergoing (and BT underwent).

The USA is the best example of how not to deregulate a telecommunications network. Decades later they have still not recovered. As…

What we get is the standard National Party attempt to dress up its leader as a sensitive human being, family man and all-round nice guy. But Key is in no…

It's not cabinets that are wrong here – far from it – it's the lack of consultation and the protectionist approach to the roll out. The areas that really need cabinets are further afield (not central Auckland) yet they're getting nothing

For once we agree Paul. But complaining about Telecom…

I think the core concern is that the PPP structure may not be an optimal form of procurement. Generally the private sector partner wants to be paid, and won't participate if it won't be. British experience suggests that when things go wrong with PPP's, they can go badly wrong.

Because…

I think the core concern is that the PPP structure may not be an optimal form of procurement. Generally the private sector partner wants to be paid, and won't participate if it won't be.

There's an element of that, sure. But one of the issues is, firstly, that if you…

That's a childish comment. Of course he's borrowing ideas.

And if X. has worked somewhere else, and it can actually be meaningfully applied to New Zealand why shouldn't you? In most areas of life, there are enough difficulties without having to re-invent the wheel every morning.

British experience suggests that…

I think the core concern is that the PPP structure may not be an optimal form of procurement.

I don't have any idealogical preference/resistance for PPP, however if infrastructure is required, and public sector is unable/unwilling to adequately fund it, then engaging with the private sector to some degree is…

I don't suppose there is a link to the speech?

Cunliffe: Keynote speech at the Digital Summit 2.0

There's a lot of ideological resistance to PPPs in the current govt, simply because they fear that once they're allowed for broadband and roads, the next step will be schools, hospitals and prisons.

I think the core concern is that the PPP structure may not be an optimal form of…

Yeah, I think Cuncliffe has ambition, but as for providing new thinking I'm not so sure. He's merely copied and the ideas that Australia and the UK have had for increasing internet speeds and made it sound like his own.

That's a childish comment. Of course he's borrowing ideas. He's…

I can see this working if it's in conjunction with Telecom's cabinetised network... Telecom owns that, we the people own the fibre at the ends of it (cabinet to curb/property) and…

And Moz has just said there's "no major difference" between National and Labour and even the Greens on broadband policy!

First he comes to the NZ Open Source Awards now this. It is a confusing and fast moving world for sure.

their benchmarking against Ireland is bogus

Almost a sure…

Check out the info from the New Zealand Institute.

I could fisk that in detail, but I don't have time.

In short however:
– the "innovation in the weightless economy" bubble requires a combined net export growth / net spending growth of over $1000 per capita. I can't see how…

Other countries have done this, Canada for example, so the technology is out there.

third world Bali has just done this, and where no sewers are available they just ploughed ahead and dug. The whole island is now covered in a fibre network

The problem of course is that laying fibre, digging up streets is terribly capital extensive – you can't really have 10 different sets of people do it up every street

If telecom can be brought on board, there is no need to go digging up the streets. For years they…

"there's scope for an investment group to be set up to provide an open-access utility service that would build and run a FTTN network open to all providers. A key barrier to…

If it's vacuum-sealed to prevent water damage, then it's perfect!

But will it work in your longdrop?

Sounds like a job for Google TISP. You can trust Google not to be evil...

Well, from that site:

TiSP in-home wireless broadband is:

• Free, fast and highly reliable
• Easy to install — takes just minutes
• Vacuum-sealed to prevent water damage

If it's vacuum-sealed to prevent water…

What I've heard from people in the funds management industry is there would not necessarily have to be a govt directive to invest more in broadband and related ventures.

This is because, as I think Cunliffe alluded to, there is an appetite for…

I have been nagging Auckland City Council for years to run fibre through the sewer system

Seriously dude, you're not connecting my toilet the the interweb. Major privacy issues involved!

Sounds like a job for Google TISP. You can trust Google not to be evil...

- Setting up of a private-sector utility company that would accept a lower rate of return on investment to build a fibre-to-the-node network beyond Telecom's.

– Invest in rural broadband infrastructure through Kordia.

– Set up a contestable fund to subsidise the building of…

Seriously dude, you're not connecting my toilet the the interweb. Major privacy issues involved!

It would seem to be an ideal solution in Dunnydin ;-)

So the short term question becomes: Do we stop a major player actually improving services just to help other players in the market make money? i.e. retard broadband improvement for broadband competition?

The answer from the minister fairly clearly seemed to be "no".

What I don't buy is that doing this would unleash some sort of massive economic burst of activity as we invent clever new ways to take advantage of all this bandwidth. Nobody's ever produced any evidence of this that doesn't involve an awful lot of hand-waving.

Check out the info…

And, as mentioned earlier in the thread, the "Cullen Fund" is currently handled fairly indirectly... but I wonder if that fund might not…

I have been nagging Auckland City Council for years to run fibre through the sewer system

Seriously dude, you're not connecting my toilet the the interweb. Major privacy issues involved!

If we *really* want to invest in telecoms infrastructure, then there are two types of cash, debt and equity.

Equity money is priced on a risk/return basis. At one end of the scale, if there is the prospect (real or imagined) of future massive revenue growth,…

I think what they're talking about is encouraging the development of a kind of investment vehicle that's scarce on the ground here.

And that's going to be a highlight of the investment money created because of Kiwisaver – when money goes looking for a long-term, low-risk home, infrastructure investment opportunities…

I suspect you guys are right about cabinetisation — shortest path to better service in many areas but it undermines LLU.

So the short term question becomes: Do we stop a major player actually improving services just to help other players in the market make money? i.e. retard broadband improvement…

I'm also in agreement that it would be jolly nice if we could get reliable, fast broadband with coverage out to rural areas.

What I don't buy…

And Reynolds from Telecom just got a scattering of applause for saying he'd like to see more shared infrastructure.

Does defining LLU as being to the cabinet change things?

Not sure, but Reynolds is saying that Telecom is committed to a more cooperative model – which must come with operational separation.…

Don't come back with wireless, either, because anyone with a clue knows that the only way to get really fast connections is by terrestrial link. Wireless is the low-speed, entry-level competitor, not the one that'll let digital businesses do anything worthwhile.

The guy from Vodafone has pointed out that they…

The problem of course is that laying fibre, digging up streets is terribly capital extensive – you can't really have 10 different sets of people do it up every street

I have been nagging Auckland City Council for years to run fibre through the sewer system, their reasons for not…

Craig if Private Public partnerships are the only way to do it so is it. But at least ensure NZ inc stays in control and drives investment ideology should not enter into it.

Which strikes me as a rather 'ideological' statement in itself, then again I don't regard 'ideology' as…

Mike McCaleb made this video of Bill playing Christchurch:

http://www.youtube.com/okmccaleb

The show comes to the Masonic in Devonport on Friday night.

Also, as far as retirement investments are concerned, telco's that…

(The problem with New Zealand's international bandwidth, he pointed out, is not a constraint on capacity — it's a lack of competition, and the consequent pricing.)

Seems like he listened at KiwiFOO earlier this year then?

Allowing private investors to build roads, water companies, more energy companies, airports, ports, and tecos would be a very good start.

I beg to differ. Providing a workable enviroment through investment in infrastucture will allow productive business to grow and prosper whilst at the same time discoraging private investment in…

People save for retirement for the purpose of providing themselves an income in retirement. If you jeopardise returns by channeling capital into non-productive investments, then retirement savings will cease.

Hello, the 90s are calling!

No one's talking about uneconomic investments, but about longer-term investments that provide a secure, debt-type return.…

Reynolds is holding out the prospect of unbundled DSL ports in the cabinets where competitors can't fit their own gear. The government is going to have to stay on…

At present, the Government doesn't control how Kiwisaver providers invest their funds. They even operate the Cullen Fund at arms-length. And so they should. Spending…

As he points out, putting equipment in exchanges won't solve the issues for those at the end of long copper lines. Cabitenising can be seen as…

On the Internet NZ site this week a discussion has been going on about LLU. Some comments have been quite…

Here's hoping Cunliffe is able to be as effective in Health as he has in Comms & IT!

I'm just worried this may just be a talk fest with little concrete coming from it. As Lawrence Zwimper said, we must move from projects to policy.…