In papers filed ahead of today’s High Court case, Telecom brusquely rebuts Vodafone’s application to have its new XT network shut down. It also questions why Vodafone filed suit just eight days before XT’s launch when it has been aware of “actual interference” since February.

In its notice of opposition, filed in the High Court at the close of business Tuesday, Telecom takes a curt three pages to dismiss Vodafone’s application, filed on Monday, which asked the court to shut down XT.

Telecom’s Notice says Vodafone has been aware of possible interference from XT test transmissions since September, and “actual interference since February 2009” yet chose to file suit just eight days of the new network’s May 13 launch (which was brought forward a month in what some see as a marketing ambush that Vodafone is now scrambling to counter).

“Interference is a matter of telecommunications realities, of which Vodafone could not have been ignorant”, Telecom says. Vodafone should follow the Radiocommunications Act’s dispute resolution provisions rather than seek relief from the court.

A court order to shut down XT would “irreversibly harm” Telecom’s market position, its Notice says, at a cost “to be calculated in the many millions of dollars”.

Elsewhere, Telecom’s Notice reiterates arguments it has previously used in the public arena - namely that XT’s transmissions are in compliance with parameters set out in the Radiocommunications Act (1989), as confirmed by Ministry of Economic Development Radio Spectrum Management division investigation of the new mobile network’s radio emissions.

The act anticipates that spectrum holders are likely to cause interference with one another’s networks, Telecom notes, and provides a dispute resolution process for such cases.

Vodafone alleges that XT has interfered with its voice service, losing it customers, affecting its customers’ own business, and imperilling emergency calls, among other harm.

Telecom chief executive Paul Reynolds says his company has offered to install filters to minimise interference (as Telstra has done for its Next G network in Australia). But Telecom and Vodafone have not been able to agree on who should pay for filtering.

Absent of a last-minute settlement, Vodafone’s application will be heard in the Auckland High Court from 10am today.

Telecom will be represented by Chapman Tripp, Vodafone by commercial litigation specialist Wilson Harle.