Ihug Owns Number Two Broadband Spot

February 2006

Ihug Owns Number Two Broadband Spot

Broadband statistics released earlier today confirm that ihug is New Zealand's second largest ADSL broadband provider, after Telecom.

Ihug chief executive Mark Rushworth says year-end figures reinforce that ihug is New Zealand's largest ADSL reseller, with ihug broadband customers making up more than one third of Telecom's wholesale connections.

"We've got the only 2Mb plan at $29.95 in the country and in fact all our plans are 2Mb so we're not surprised that more Kiwis have chosen to get their broadband from ihug than any other reseller," he says.

Despite the good news for ihug, Rushworth says the numbers also reaffirm New Zealand's poor broadband penetration rate compared to the rest of the developed world.

"The fact that Telecom has missed the commission's wholesale target by nearly 20,000 broadband connections should send a clear message to the minister - his review of the telecommunications regulatory regime is even more critical now."

Ihug has been actively lobbying the government for local loop unbundling (LLU), which they see as the only way for Kiwis to experience faster broadband speeds for less than a dollar a day.

"With LLU in Australia our sister company, iiNet, can give their customers 24Mb speeds for $29.95 - that's nearly one hundred times faster than Xtra's 256kbps plan that New Zealanders will pay $40 or $50 for," says Rushworth.

ENDS

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