Telecom Plans GSM Implementation

The NZ Herald has repoted recently that Telecom New Zealand is set to hand Alcatel Lucent a contract worth between $300 - $400 million to build a new GSM mobile network. It appears that Telecom's intention is to construct a GSM system to deliver voice services while retaining the current CDMA network for high-speed data services and voice calling during the transition to the new technology.

Of course, this is good news for Telecom users - a greater range of handsets and improved roaming capability will now be available. However, this level of service has been enjoyed by Vodafone users for some time. I am sure that Telecom's initial decison to commit to CDMA technology was a well considered one, but ultimately this respresents the reversal of another investment decision where the users end up as the guinea pigs in the experiment.