Copyright © 1996 to Bruce Simpson
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ISPs meet to face Xtra challenge Copyright © 1996 to Bruce Simpson |
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A significant number of New Zealand's Internet Service Providers are
meeting this week to discuss their options in the face of Xtra's
newly announced pricing.
In a move which was planned for September but which was brought forward to August in response to claimed better than anticipated sales, Xtra has halved their access prices from $5/hr to just $2.50 per hour for subscribers in the major metropolitan areas. Another component of this new pricing scheme is the removal of the previous minimum monthly commitments which varied from $19 to $49 per month. By way of response to this move by Xtra, an informal ISP collective plans to meet this week in an attempt to formulate some method of countering this threat to their profitability. While no details of the possible planned actions have been released, there are rumours that several ISPs had already planned to lodge comlaints with the Commerce Commission, claiming that Telecom is making unfair use of its unique position as a wholesaler and retailer in this situation. Another ground for complaint is the pricing differential between Xtra's 0800 service (still priced at $5/hr) and their new Metro-plan (at $2.50/hr). Other ISPs complain that they can't buy access through the 0800 service for $2.50 per hour and that therefore Telecom has an unfair advantage. Aardvark Daily will publish any details that become available subsiquent to the planned meetings. |