Xtra's Plans Mediocre says Orcon

Xtra's Plans Mediocre says Orcon

Telecom's new broadband plans that were released this morning are 'mediocre at best' says Orcon's General Manager of Operations and Regulatory Scott Bartlett.

"Orcon has always provided a better value broadband product than Xtra, and this is set to continue with Telecom's announcement of a mediocre product range. While Orcon will be able to sell the exact same plans as Xtra, we will be improving on their offer to customers with higher data caps, and excess charges that are 20 times lower."

Telecom's announcement has also made much of their new 'dollar a day' basic broadband plan. Mr. Bartlett says that while this might look good for the Government, Orcon has been a leader in 'dollar a day' broadband for months, while providing a much better product.

"Telecom's announcement of providing 'dollar a day' broadband is interesting, considering Orcon have been providing this for over 6 months with our $29.95 256k product, but with 5 times the data and excess charges which are 20 times lower than those announced by Telecom" says Bartlett.

Orcon will be providing 3.5M/128K and 3.5M/512K plans for residential and business users in early April, and we're pleased to see the price of business internet finally coming down after New Zealand, after having some of the most expensive business DSL in the OECD.

"Orcon's new 3.5M/512K plan will be a real win for kiwi businesses, with generous data caps and significantly lower excess charges. Our plans will be announced shortly, with a planned launch date of early April. Businesses should be talking to Orcon now, about how we can save them significant money, and provide a superior product" continued Bartlett.

Orcon is also concerned that Telecom in making their plans public is a move to force ISP's to sign up to their commercial offer, but inhibits Orcon and other ISP's ability to negotiate improvements to their proposal. However, Orcon believes commercial negotiation is a better way forward than regulation.

"With Telecom and Telstra-Clear now in the market with a 3.5 megabit product, pragmatically Orcon and other ISP's need to find a way through the current negotiations. Orcon has been pushing hard for improvements to the UBS product through the current round of negotiations, including better pricing, lower latency, improved service quality (SIR) and faster delivery; this mornings announcement forces our hand and hamstrings our ability to get a better deal for all New Zealanders." concluded Bartlett.

Orcon has sustained a high level of growth over the past 3 years to become NZ's 4th biggest ISP, and the largest ISP that is 100% New Zealand owned and operated. Previously best known as a provider of wholesale internet and business connections, Orcon has become a household name in New Zealand.

ENDS

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