patrick@sideways.gen.nz (Pat Cain) (03/14/91)
This file contains various Telecom news, some of it taken from
newspapers and the rest from NZ Telecom propoganda.
MONOPOLY ON TOLL SERVICE ENDS
- Clear Communications puts through first call
COMMUNICATIONS Minister Maurice Williamson made the first telephone
call recently to break the Post Office/Telecom monopoly in more than
100 years.
The call, to Telecommunications Users Association chairman Terry
Ballard in Auckland, used the Clear Communications toll network of
fibre-optic cable laid by Railways Corporation beside the main trunk
line.
Clear is a consortium jointly owned by Railways Corp., Television
New Zealand, Todd Corporation, Bell Canada International and MCI
Communications of the United States.
Clear chief executive George Newton said the toll service would be
made available to domestic customers in April without a need for
subscribers to change present Telecom arrangements or lay new lines.
To use the service, customers will simply dial 050, then the area
code required, and then the telephone number.
Mr. Newton said the company's toll prices would be less than those
offered by Telecom but prices would be kept secret till the last
minute. Newton also said Clear had the capability to to offer toll
service bills charged in steps of one-tenth of a minute. Telecom's
minute step means that a one minute one second call is charged as a
two minute call.
Snags are Telecom's refusal to share names/addresses of customers it
inherited from the post office system with the new entrant. In the
meantime this means only people who have registered will be able to
use the service.
Mr. Williamson said that in recent months he had felt like a
marriage guidance counsellor talking Telecom and Clear through the
delicate and complex interconnection agreements.
He said he was pleased the Government had not been obliged to step
in and dictate terms to the two companies, which leaves New Zealand in
the unique position of having no court or state-imposed terms of
interconnection.
The NZ Telecom market is worth $1.2 billion, Clear has already
conneced Television New Zealand to the network and George Newton says
"We are here to stay". Whether Clear will suceed in their aims
remains to be seen.
[The above is an edited version of report that appeared in {The Dominion}]
REPAIR SERVICE MORE EFFICIENT
To quote:
"In just 12 months we made these improvements in our Repair Service:
* We have reduced the number of faults our customer
have had to report by 28%.
* We have reduced the number of faults which could not be
repaired on the day they were reported by 42%.
* We have reduced the average time to make a repair by 40%.
(It now takes about 4 business hours, on average, from
when you report your problem until it is fixed.)
Your satisfaction with our service is vitally important
to us and we aim to continually improve on the service
we give."
Incidentally, Telecom NZ is the biggest spending advertiser in New
Zealand. Nightly we are subjected to cutesy animal TV adverts (you
know the ones, mummy and daddy animal with lots of babies) telling us
that toll calls are so much cheaper than they used to be and how
wonderful Telecom is. I think that we're getting fed these adverts so
often that we're starting to get addicted to them and wonder what will
come next.
CHEAPER PHONE OPTION FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE
Local calls for residential telephone users are free. Recently NZ
Telecom introduced a new option for people over 60 years of age. To
quote their leaflet:
The first option is the existing payment method, that is
the standard line rental of $32.84 (GST included and
effective from 1 January 1991) and free local calls. This
option will suit elderly customers who make a large number
of calls and rely heavily on their phone for social contacts.
The second option is the newly released Sixties Plus Phone
Option which offers a reduced monthly line rental of $19.69
(GST included) and a local call charge of 11.25cents a
minute, or part of a minute (GST included). This option
will suit those elderly customers who make very few
outgoing calls and usually rely on their phone for necessities
such as making a doctor's appointment.
The new Sixties Plus Phone Option has been introduced as a
result of talks between Telecom, consumer and older people's
lobby groups. IT is available to any Telecom customer aged
60 years and over whose phone is listed in their own name at
their permanent address.
I haven't heard any reaction to this offer, but I guess it sounds
reasonable for elderly people who don't call out much. I'm sure that
bulletin board sysops would quite like it. Telecom NZ has promised to
keep free local calls unless it "unreasonably effects our profits".
CALLING CARDS INTRODUCED
Calling Cards were recently introduced in NZ. Calls made using the
Telecom Calling Card may be charged to either a credit card or the
phone account. It will be interesting to see if we have any of the
fraud problems that have occured in the States.
For those that are interested, the PIN number is four digits, and the
calling card number is sixteen digits. As far as I can tell the card
number is not related to the users phone number in any way.
The card also has an "International Calling Card number" on it, and
says that users may need to quote this to overseas operators. I
wonder if this means that in the future we will be able to use calling
cards in any country with any Telco?
The other thing that interested me was the magnetic strip on the back
of the card. It is in the same place as a standard credit or bank
card. Perhaps this is for future expansion as there doesn't seem to
be any use for it so far.
The charge for using the card is the usual cost of the call plus
NZ$2.04 for national, NZ$4.50 for international, or NZ$9.00 for
international person to person call.
CELLULAR PAY PHONES INSTALLED ON FERRIES.
Telecom cardphones (same model as most British cardphones) have been
installed on the NZ Railways Ferries that travel between the North and
South Islands in NZ (about a 3 1/2 hour journey). Calls can be made
anywhere in the country at a charge of NZ$1/minute ($1.20 for first
minute).
Telecom:
"It provides an interface between the public telephone
network and the cellular network, allowing calls to be
placed from the ferry to anywhere in the country during
its journey between the North and South Islands".
Customers place a call in the normal way by inserting a Phonecard
into the slot and when the other end answers, pusing the
star button.
<end of file>
Pat <patrick@sideways.gen.nz>
Private Box 2060, Wellington, New Zealandhenry@garp.mit.edu (Henry Mensch) (03/15/91)
Pat Cain <patrick@sideways.gen.nz> writes: > Telecom cardphones (same model as most British cardphones) have been > installed on the NZ Railways Ferries that travel between the North and > South Islands in NZ (about a 3 1/2 hour journey). > minute). Similar facilities exist on the Star Ferry which runs between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon ... although i don't recall (off-hand) whether the star ferry phones accept the telecom phonecards ... # Henry Mensch / <henry@mit.edu> / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA # <hmensch@uk.ac.nsfnet-relay> / <henry@tts.lth.se> / <mensch@munnari.oz.au> # via X.400: S=mensch; OU=informatik; P=tu-muenchen; A=dbp; C=de