TelstraClear

Infobox_Company
company_name = TelstraClear
company_
company_type = Subsidiary of flagicon|AUS Telstra
foundation = TelstraSaturn, As TelstraClear - 2003
industry = Telecommunications
location = flagicon|NZ Wellington, New Zealand
num_employees = 4,000
products = Voice
Internet
Digital TV

homepage = [http://telstraclear.co.nz telstraclear.co.nz]

TelstraClear is New Zealand's second largest telecommunications company and is a fully owned subsidiary of Telstra Corporation (Australia).

TelstraClear is a voice and data company with around 400,000 customers in New Zealand, fully owned by Telstra Corporation, Australia. The company provides residential line rental services, internet services, cable TV/cable modem and also mobile telephone services to 70,000 subscribers on its network in three areas (Wellington, Christchurch and Kapiti).

In 2004 TelstraClear began offering residential line HomePlan services including broadband outside those areas where it has its own network, reselling a wholesale product from Telecom New Zealand.

History

Telstra New Zealand was set up in 1996 by Telstra as part of Telstra's international expansion. Competing with the incumbent Telecom New Zealand, Saturn Communications and Clear Communications Telstra New Zealand initially focused on providing services to top tier international organisations who were already Telstra clients in Australia in the same way that Telecom New Zealand Australia, an Australian subsidiary of Telecom New Zealand currently does for New Zealand based customers in Australia.

Telstra slowly expanded its operations in the business market bundling Telecom New Zealand services distributed as a reseller with its own network services. It installed switches in Auckland and Wellington to manage incoming and outgoing international traffic and maintained an interconnect agreement with Telecom New Zealand and is likely to have had others with companies such as Clear Communications.

In 2000 Saturn Communications was sold by its parent company, Austar United Communications, to a new joint venture with Telstra entity that became known as TelstraSaturn.

TelstraClear was then created by the merger of Telstra's operations in New Zealand "TelstraSaturn Limited" and Clear Communications in 2001. Austar United Communications held an initial investment of 42% in TelstraClear before selling it back to Telstra.

ervices

POTS Telephone Services

Residential telephone service is available in two ways:

1.Through TelstraClear directly within the areas covered by its own network, that is parts of Kapiti, Wellington and Christchurch.

2.Through a resale agreement with Telecom New Zealand for the rest of the country.

Business telephone services are offered across the country, either on Telstraclears own network in Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Napier, Palmerston North, Whanganui, Kapiti, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. HomePlan residential services are offered in the rest of the country via a resale agreement with Telecom.

Internet Services

TelstraClear owns two ISP's, Paradise.net and Clear Net. Both offer nationwide dialup and DSL service, and cable modem internet access within TelstraClear's own (built) network. Capable of speeds up to 25Mbit/s this makes it New Zealands fastest Home broadband offering. Outside of this network, broadband connections are resold over Telecom's DSL lines. A number of their dial-up IP numbers are blacklisted as abusers by sites such as DSBL.

Mobile Services

TelstraClear currently does not operate their own mobile network, they used to use Vodafone's network for cellphones, In 2007 this agreement came up for renewal, this arrangement was not renewed, 30,000 TelstraClear mobile customers were then scheduled to be returned to Vodafone. However, TelstraClear subsequently signed a wholesale mobile deal to access the Telecom New Zealand CDMA network and currently Telstraclear is beginning to offer its new services to Small Medium Enterprises and Small Business. In 2008, they started to offer handsets to the public using the same prefix as their business mobile phones. They are currently using Telecoms network. As of launch, TelstraClear had the cheapest mobile plan in New Zealand, although customers, in order to get the deal (+ free handset worth $499), had to change their homeline and broadband to TelstraClear.

ubscription Television (TelstraClear InHomeTV)

TelstraClear operates the Hybrid Fibre Cable pay television network developed by Saturn Communications in Wellington, Kapiti and Christchurch, prior to the sale to Telstra. The network infrastructure includes twisted pair cabling used for residential and business local telephone service.

Programming is now managed by SKY Network Television following an agreement that saw TelstraClear move out of the role of sourcing developing a competitive pay television offering. The agreement allowed TelstraClear to distribute and bill for services provided by SKY Network Television on its own Direct to Home satellite service and TelstraSaturn's cable network.

InHomeTV is available on TelstraClear's Cable network in Wellington, Christchurch and Kapiti. The service is not available by itself, it must be bundled with TelstraClear's telephony service.

In 2005, the network was upgraded to a fully digital transmission network. They expect to offer an HDTV option in early 2009 which will consist of a single set-top-box incorporating a personal hard drive video recorder.

Channel Lineup

This lists all current digital and analogue channels. Channel numbers were changed March, 2007, to coincide with Sky channel number changes.

Radio Stations

All radio stations are only available on digital.

* Channel 400 SKY Digital Music NZ Chart
* Channel 401 SKY Digital Music Pop
* Channel 402 SKY Digital Music Smooth
* Channel 403 SKY Digital Music Grooves
* Channel 404 SKY Digital Music Jazz
* Channel 405 SKY Digital Music House
* Channel 406 SKY Digital Music 50s & 60s
* Channel 407 SKY Digital Music Party
* Channel 408 SKY Digital Music Rock
* Channel 409 SKY Digital Music Country
* Channel 410 SKY Digital Music Classical
* Channel 411 SKY Digital Music Kids
* Channel 412 SKY Digital Music Blues
* Channel 413 SKY Digital Music Theme
* Channel 500 Kiwi FM
* Channel 501 Radio New Zealand National
* Channel 502 Radio New Zealand Concert
* Channel 503 Niu FM
* Channel 504 George FM
* Channel 506 Tahu FM
* Channel 510 Core Internet Radio
* Channel 511 The Cheese
* Channel 512 The Rock

Interactive Services

All interactive services are only available on digital.

* Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) - Television listing information.
* Pay Per View (PPV) Guide - Sky Box Office listing information.

Defunct Channels

* TechTV was available up until May 2004, when current owner Comcast halted international broadcasts. (Source TelstraClear website)

* Chilli (an adult channel) was also available until 2004 when CEO Alan Freeth discontinued the product on moral grounds.(Source TelstraClear staff memo)

Free-to-view Channels

The following analogue cable channels are unofficially available without needing decryption on TelstraClear's network:
* TV ONE
* TV2
* TV3
* Prime
* Māori Television
* SKY Box Office Previews
* SKY Box Office Pay per view guide
* C4
* TBN
* Saturn Scan
* Saturn Weather
* Saturn Choose
* The Radio Network

External links

* [http://www.telstraclear.co.nz/ TelstraClear's homepage]