The Government says it has little ability to intervene over Telecom's XT network problems but has made it clear to the company how concerning the issues are becoming.

The network has been plagued with problems since being introduced late last year, and an outage yesterday affecting customers south of Taupo was the fourth time since Christmas customers around the country had been unable to effectively use their phones.

Labour's communications and IT spokeswoman Clare Curran said today Communications Minister Stephen Joyce needed to get answers from Telecom about why customers were being let down and urge the company to compensate them.

Ms Curran said the unreliability of the XT network was now an infrastructure issue which was costing New Zealanders time, businesses money, and Telecom a big chunk of its reputation.

"New Zealand cannot afford to have the main network of the major telecommunications company under question. It's not good enough and it would be good if the minister would relay that to Telecom on behalf of customers."

Mr Joyce said he spoke to Telecom chief executive Paul Reynolds about the problems yesterday, but because the company was a private one the Government had no power to act or intervene.

"But I've made it clear to Dr Reynolds that the Government is very concerned with the recent spate of outages," Mr Joyce said.

"I am also seeking assurances from the company that arrangements will be urgently made to ensure that emergency 111 calls are answered.

"New Zealand's telecommunications market is a competitive one and I'm sure Telecom is well aware of the effect these ongoing issues will be having on their customers' confidence."

Telecom compensated customers following an outage late last month which lasted for days, and Dr Reynolds is this afternoon due to front up to the public to talk about the issues.

Alcatel-Lucent, the partner of Telecom which built the XT network, announced yesterday that its New Zealand chief executive, Steve Lowe, had resigned. No reason was given for the resignation.