Telecom under fire again for ‘third world’ service

Telecom under fire again for ‘third world’ service

Telecom is coming under fire again, this time from a prominent business lobby group furious that the troubled telco has limited or no spare ports available for broadband connections in the Albany exchange.

North Harbour Business Association represents the North Shore’s largest industrial and commercial area with 1300 businesses and 13,000 workers, many of whom work in the ICT sector.

NHBA general manager Gary Holmes says a Telecom call centre worker in the Philippines told him that those Albany companies wanting broadband must go on a waiting list stretching some 50 days.

“This is totally unacceptable in today’s fast-paced business world,” Mr Holmes says. “It harks back to the woeful days of yesteryear and is proof enough why Telecom should not be awarded the government’s contract for the nationwide rollout of the fibre network.”

“Telecom is offering free T-sticks but still charges the excessive data rates incurred when connecting via the mobile network. It does not, however, offer discounts or allow for the fact that the user has no choice,” he adds.

Mr Holmes says his conversation with Telecom’s representative based in an outsourced, overseas call centre reminded him of a scene in Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire when an operator read from a prepared script he could scarcely believe himself.

“I was told that Telecom plans an upgrade of its Albany exchange later this year but, in the meantime, I should consider using a dial-up connection.”

He says Telecom should stop wasting the fortune it’s currently spending on its marketing campaign to acknowledge the patience and loyalty of its weary XT customers through full-page newspaper advertisements and, instead, invest those funds in bringing broadband-to-business standards up to scratch as quickly as possible.

“Telecom’s current standard of service sadly reflects years of poor planning. If we’re to play our part in helping New Zealand recover from economic recession, then we must do better than the third world standards Kiwis might associate with Manila or Mumbai.

“We have since learned that there are a number of [telecommunications] cabinets that they are going to upgrade in June that will increase the number of ports available across the area.

“This, at least, gave me cause to hope but I can’t help thinking it’s tinkering at the edges – more retrofitting of a neglected system. More worrying, however, is the fear that we will be subjected to more inadequate planning in the future.

“North Harbour, as one of the fastest growing industrial areas in Auckland, deserves better.”

ENDS

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