Telecom and Vodafone settle, XT launch delayed
Telecom's XT mobile network launch has been delayed until the end of May as part of a settlement reached by Telecom and Vodafone.
A High Court Justice had been due to rule on their mobile network interference case at midday. Vodafone had alleged XT, currently being tested, was degrading its voice service, losing it customers and imperilling emergency calls, and asked for XT to be switched off until these issues could be resolved.
XT had been due to launch on May 13. It will now launch on May 31 - the same day Vodafone is due to complete its own 3G network.
Telecom will use the fortnight delay to install extra filters on its celltowers. But Vodafone won't say which side will pay for the filters, robbing it of any claim on outright victory. (UPDATE: Telecom boss Paul Reynolds let slip to NBR that Vodafone would contribute to filter costs.)
Vodafone landed some good jabs in the High Court yesterday, raising at least the possibility of an injunction.
Commercial terms of the deal were not disclosed, making it hard to discern which side backed down.
Before the trial, both had broadly agreed on the need for filters, but not on which company should pay for them.
Vodafone's counsel said filters cost around $1000 each, not including the labour to install and test them. Telecom has around 900 cell towers. The telco had argued yesterday that Vodafone was also responsible for interference, and should do more to isolate its own network. Vodafone has 1069 cell towers.
Speaking to NBR this morning, Vodafone chief executive Russell Stanners refused to say which company would pay for the filters, or what share each would shoulder.
The filter installation programme is believed to be already underway in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch following a separate settlement reached between Telecom and soon-to-launch third mobile operator NZ Communications during April, and exclusively revealed by NBR on May 5.
Telecom's end-of-May deadline to install filters for Vodafone coincides with the end-of-May filter assurance that NZ Comms tells NBR it received under its settlement.
The High Court had been due to rule on Vodafone's application at midday today.
Vodafone had sought to have Telecom's new XT 3G mobile network to switched off XT until interface issues could be resolved.
Vodafone: we did what we had to do
Vodafone staffers have acknowledged that in going legal - and in remaining silent under a Telecom comms assault - the company's image suffered a temporary setback.
But of its controversial decision to take the matter to court rather than follow the Radiocommunications Act's disputes process, Mr Stanners says that, under time pressure ahead of XT's launch, his company did what it had to do:
"It was an unfortunate path we had to go down, but we got the result we needed for our customers," says the Vodafone boss.
Newman suffers flashback
Telecommunications Users Association chief executive Ernie Newman remains unconvinced.
“This court action was a flashback to the 1990s when the telecommunications companies were constantly in court against one another,” says the Tuanz boss.
“Perhaps Vodafone CEO Russell Stanners, with Telecom’s Paul Reynolds, should spend a weekend on a desert island and not return until they have restored lines of communication and re-learned each other’s phone numbers?"
Mr Stanners says he was unworried by Dr Reynolds' smack-talk on Monday, when the Telecom boss labelled Vodafone "desperate".
Media jibes apart, Mr Stanners says he has a good working relationship with Dr Reynolds, and that their companies have been meeting daily over the past two weeks in a bid to resolve the interference issue.
Damages off the table
In the High Court yesterday, Vodafone QC Julian Miles said damages would not be enough. His company's aim was to delay Telecom's XT launch, through the granting of an interim injunction, until the filtering issue was resolved to the satisfaction of an engineer appointed by the court.
However, although an injunction was Mr Miles' key aim, Vodafone also reserved the right to sue for financial damages, the QC stated. Vodafone said it had lost customers due to XT's interference, and that its image in the market had suffered as the public wrongly attributed dropped calls and other problems to issues with its network.
But this morning, Mr Stanners says damages are off the table. In fact, he seemed not immediately aware that Mr Miles had raised the issue, raising the prospect that they were never seriously on the table to begin with.
"When you're in court arguing your case, both sides go as hard as they can," said Mr Stanners.
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Comments and questions18
sounding like a fanboi, but I just cant see myself ever moving back to Telecom, not after the appalling service since day one really!
Anyway, this XT network of Telecoms seems to be all kinds of trickery, I know all marketing claims are overhyped, I still remember the T3G ads back in 2005 or whatever, "my phone can do this...i can do this on the internet..." and nothing came of it.
About all Telecom used 3G for was push to talk? And look where that went! is there a single phone currently sold with PTT? LOL.
XT must have been causing the interference, does anyone doubt that? If it were turned on and off like apparently happened during testing, and the problems started and then stopped....well, it must be the XT network. To me, filters sound like a sensible thing, I would think you would NEED to have them on. I think Telecom is very evil if they think they can just get away with screwing everyone else over, making all the other networks have dropped calls etc, and then possibly running ads "oh, that vodafone outfit, they cant even get phone calls to work! come to us, the only phone company in this country!!!"
Hopefully Telecom will catch up with Vodafone in terms of music playing, video calling etc. Its embarrassing to look at Telecom phones, they tend to be about 10 years out of date. I was really happy for Telecom customers though, when I saw Telecom pushing bluetooth, SD cards etc. Im glad for all NZ customers :)
That said, I love Vodafone, I've always had perfect service (Invercargill), although never used 3G, I had a Motorola RAZR and now an original jailbroken iPhone.
I hope Telecom starts getting good phones for the first time ever! I hear you can buy an iPhone 3G from Vodafone, and use it on Telecoms new network, which sounds good for Telecom users!
Peace to you all.
Vodafone settled only because it realised it was loosing in the court of public opinion who saw their tactics for what they really were.
"Telecom’s new XT mobile network will go live for New Zealanders by the end of May 2009."
As far as I'm concerned, this implies that Telecom is to blame.
Vodafone settled because Telecom admitted and resolved to fix their interference issues. Which is exactly why Vodafone took them to court in the first place. Well done Vodafone for looking after your business and your customers.
Telecom has the moral high ground on this argument - Vodafone said this interference issue was known about since November and then yesterday for maximum spin they also played the emergency calling card - If the whole emergency calling thing was such a concern why didnt they injunct back in November?
Simple the interference issue was a pretext for throwing the legal spanner in the works. Telecom was within the MEDs guidelines and had done nothing wrong.
So now Telecom is fitting filters it'll be interesting to see just how many of these so-called "interference" issues actually go away - With the shoddy coverage and performance of vodas network I'd be willing to wager there'll still be issues and guess what??? These wont be any fault of XT.
How may of you Vodafone fan boys can honestly say that you haven't been getting dropped calls etc for years?
I think its pretty obvious where the blame lies
The quality issues on Vodafones network (at least in Auckland - where I live) have been around for a lot longer than Telecoms fledgling XT network.
It is a very pragmatic decision to settle on Telecoms part, as to litigate who is to blame (and prove it) for the interference, would most likely take a lot longer than "until the end of May".
I do not see this in any way, as an admission of guilt on Telecom part - it is simply a prudent business decision.
You would probably find that Telecom were going to install these filters anyway - to protect themselves from interference from the Vodafone network.
Great to see a settlement, as we will see the launch of this network sooner rather than later
Could it be that Telecom is submitting to Vodafone request's only to get them off their backs and continue with the launch?
Surely it would take longer if Telecom refused to delay the network at which point im guessing Vodafone would continue to take them to court to try and prove that the XT network was at fault for the issues the voda customers had been experiencing thus maybe giving Vodafone what they wanted which was a longer delay in the launch??
Just a thought..
"How may of you Vodafone fan boys can honestly say that you haven't been getting dropped calls etc for years?"
In reply to your quote i have been on both sides of the fench and in my experience Telecom drops calls just as much as Vodafone.
Hey Everyone,
To my understanding of the issue it actualy revolves around telecom using the 2100 spectrum not the 850. Telecom were going to use the 2100 frequency, but then decided to standardise on the 850. So a simple solution would be to turn off the 2100 and go live with the network using only the 850.
The issues that vodafone are talking about with interferrence on comes from the main centers where 2100 is being used by vidafone and telecom.
Where do you guys live that you get dropped calls? I don't get dropped calls.
Telecom said they wouldn't be deterred by 'aggressive legal tactics', well, they have backed down. I think they knew they would have to by the first break in the proceedings at 11:30 yesterday morning.
Telecom should have installed the filters straight away without NZC and Vodafone having to force their hand. These filters will not be protecting XT from Vodafone emission's because Vodafone stays within it's frequency allocation. If they didn't NZC would have a serious problem as they sit closer to Vodafone's frequency allocation than XT.
The problem is not with the 2100MHz range but with the 850-900MHz range. XT's signal is spilling out of the allocated range and into NZC range and even into Vodafone's range which is further up the spectrum at 899.8 - 915MHz. XT's signal is affecting Voda's 2G signal which still carries it's voice and txt services; the data services carried on 2100MHz would be unaffected. Data carried on Voda's UMTS900MHz band would be affected too.
Telecom would never have delayed the launch if the XT network was not causing interference to Vodafone. It's a new network, there will always be issues launching a large, complex bit of engineering - issues soon forgotten. Ernie Newman spends most of his time having flashbacks, move on!
No one needs to claim victory here, let the networks do the talking.
From what I hear, Telecom has been trying to sort this out commercially all along, and so today's announcement isn't a "backdown" by one side or the other - it's just commercial common sense finally prevailing. Nobody wins in this sort of court room battle. The big thing for me is that, with filters installed, Vodafone won't be able to "blame" anyone else for ongoing customer experience problems except itself. There's no where to hide now. The real answer to the "Vodafone versus Telecom" battle will be decided by customers on the back of their experience with both networks going forward. They're the real judge here - and that's how it should be.
So, let me get this right: Vodafone knew about the 111 problem as far back as late last year, but did nothing until a week ago?
If so, then it sounds like Vodafone willingly let their customers be at risk of failed emergency calls in favour of commercial gains.
This question has be be answered by the head of Vodafone immediately.
This issue doesnt really lie with Vodafone or Telecom. The real culprit here is the MED (Ministry of Economic Development) for allowing an incompatible GSM/UMTS850 and GSM/UMTS900 band to co-exist next to each other, without a properly allocated guard band. If the MED had their act together, they would have stipulated a higher tolerance on Telecoms transmitter's spectral purity - Telecom would have then fitted filters as a matter of course and this problem would have been mitigated.
Watch this space - I guarantee that the same problem will raise it's head with NZComms, when they go to launch. In any case NZ Comms will have to ensure that their receive filtering eliminates the (now correctly filtered) Telecom signal eliminating spill into their band. If not, a situation called "RF Blocking" could occur causing degrading performance in NZ Comms receivers. This time it wont be Telecoms problem - it will be the MED's.
Vodafone Are Always going To be Better Than Telecom In Terms Of Reception, And Business Skills. When Vodafone Breaks Down, Its Not A Big Deal Because Its Down For 45 Minutes, At One Cell Site, NOT THE WHOLE FLIPPING NETWORK
Vodafone Are Always going To be Better Than Telecom In Terms Of Reception, And Business Skills. When Vodafone Breaks Down, Its Not A Big Deal Because Its Down For 45 Minutes, At One Cell Site, NOT THE WHOLE FLIPPING NETWORK
Vodafone Are Always going To be Better Than Telecom In Terms Of Reception, And Business Skills. When Vodafone Breaks Down, Its Not A Big Deal Because Its Down For 45 Minutes, At One Cell Site, NOT THE WHOLE FLIPPING NETWORK
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