re: hta - 3g developments Hi sabretooth,You were fairly close to...

re: hta - 3g developments Hi sabretooth,

You were fairly close to the mark. Telstra is again exploring the possibility of doing a 3G wholesaling deal with HTA as a pre-cursor to doing their own network rollout.

For HTA, this would secure scale at an even faster rate than is currently occurring.

For TLS, this would represent prudent capital management, by holding off on the CAPEX until sometime after the pent-up demand has justified the investment (ie: similarl to what IIN is now doing in relation to its own DSLAM network).

What will be more interesting to observers will be when HTA goes back to ACCC (for clearance on network sharing /wholesaling).

They were last making submissions before the ACCC in November 2002, and again in October 2003. Each of those occasions co-incided with active fostering of the network sharing /wholesaling approach (first with Vodafone, and then with TLS). So, if suggestions of ACCC involvement start to abound, then that would suggest a higher level of commitment towards the parties closing in on such a deal.

Of course, this follows on from yesterday's news of TEL appointing Lucent to roll-out an EV-DO based 3G network in NZ, and the earlier news of Nokia being appointed to roll-out the Vodafone 3G network in Australia and in New Zealand.

This virtually leaves Telstra /TelstraClear as the only operator (in either Australia or in NZ) who have not yet committed to a proposed 3G network rollout.

For now, Michael Sainsbury's article from today's The Australian explains the story in more detail:

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Telstra redials talks on sharing 3G
By Michael Sainsbury
24jun04

TELSTRA has resumed detailed discussions with rival Hutchison Telecommunications on a deal to share network infrastructure for a $1 billion third-generation mobile network.

Earlier this year, the two companies failed to finalise a deal which would have seen 3G network-sharing as well as Telstra buying Hutchison's Orange CDMA business.
A source familiar with the talks said that now "they are back on in earnest".

Both Telstra and Hutchison declined to comment.

Hutchison is the only company operating a 3G network and all Australian mobile networks have paid lip service to the concept of network-sharing.

Speaking to analysts and media earlier this week on a range of imminent infrastructure decisions facing Telstra's board, Telstra chief executive Ziggy Switkowski hinted at the talks.

"Some (infrastructure decisions) are outcomes we are close to resolving.

"All of them involve decisions about the selection of partners ... perhaps the selection of alternative networks, with which we might find some degree of compatibility," Dr Switkowski said.

A 3G network would cost Telstra about $1 billion, analysts said. Telstra was also holding open a dialogue with Optus, sources said.

Telstra is hedging its bets with a parallel deployment of 3G data technology on its CDMA network.

But a senior Telstra executive has poured scorn on an identical strategy by Telecom New Zealand.

TNZ announced yesterday that it would spend NZ$40 million ($36.6 million) deploying a new fast-data technology known as 1x EV-DO in big cities on its New Zealand CDMA network.

Earlier this year, Telstra Country Wide group managing director Doug Campbell said the company was deploying EV-DO in Australian metropolitan cities, as well as a number of major regional centres such as Darwin.

Rosemary Howard, managing director of Telstra's New Zealand subsidiary, TelstraClear, said of EV-DO: "It is not the preferred 3G play for anybody.

"It is best seen as an interim play. It is only really satisfactory for a few, high-spending customers, but that's about it.

"The data and voice terms come on separate devices and CDMA handsets cost more anyway."

Mobiles are TNZ's only weak spot in a market on which it otherwise continues to have a stranglehold.

A series of poor technology choices dating back to the early 1990s have allowed its main competitor, Vodafone, to grab market leadership.

TNZ will brand its new service as T3G in an effort to gain a first-mover advantage in its home market on 3G.

TNZ mobiles chief Kevin Kenrick said: "We'll be launching a broad frontier of new business and entertainment services. These include video messaging, the ability to download clips from films, music, sports or information services and functions like push-to-talk, which will let you turn your mobile into a walkie-talkie.

"Next year, we expect live television on your handset."