Along with starting Hayai Broadband in India, I’m considering the possibility of starting Hayai Broadband in New Zealand – probably using different technologies for the simple reason of feasibility (only the major centres have enough population density to really consider fiber, but that depends on the costs of digging).
So when the idea came for launching the respective services almost simultaneously in 2 countries, I thought I should contact one of the big telcos to inquire about obtaining capacity and services and whatnot.
My first email to them:
To whom it may concern,
I am a New Zealand citizen currently abroad, and am currently looking at starting an ISP in New Zealand, focused on delivering broadband and other unique services.
I came upon TelstraClear wholesale and am now looking at the possibility of using your VISP services to begin with, otherwise I would be interested in purchasing both international and domestic bandwidth, depending on the terms and conditions of supplying DSL services (eg, can we come up with our own speed/data allowance tariffs?)
In the event of purchasing bandwidth alone, I would be looking toward purchasing at least an STM-1 or STM-4 to begin with for international connectivity, and at least an STM-4 domestically. I’m also working
(indirectly) with Reach here in India, so I may be able to leverage that relationship to my advantage.
I have New Zealand based companies and capital if needed, but what else should I know with regards to licensing and regulations? I expect I would need to apply for and receive an ISP license before I can go any further, yet I have failed to find anything specific to ISPs (although there is much for telecommunications companies) on theCommerce Commission and MED websites.
I suspect I may be looking in the wrong place – are you able to give me a few ideas as to which legislature applies to ISPs, as well as information and pricing for bandwidth.
Thank you in advance
Mathew Carley
Hayai Broadband Pvt Ltd (India)
Carley Informatiq Ltd (New Zealand)
I received this gem this morning as a reply to my original query:
Hi Mathew
Yes we have a Wholesale ISP Product – VISP.
The patform and services are all managed here by TCL.
You would need to open a Wholesale Account first before any information can be supplied.A couple of questions
1/Why do you want to starrt and operate an ISP here in NZ – do you intend to move back to NZ…?
2/We donot sell as a Telco – International capacity to ISP’s – and it’s a little strange for you to even request a STM-1 (155MB) to carry your international traffic….and a STM4 for domestc…???
3/Do you actually understand what is required to start up a ISP
4/Is this s joke….?Regards
Mark Anderson
TelstraClear | Wholesale
Communications Engineer
I found this reply… a little offensive, and the attitude abrasive. But, I gave him a detailed reply anyway:
Hi Mark,
Thank you for your prompt, yet somewhat unfortunate response.
Yes we have a Wholesale ISP Product – VISP. The platform and services are all managed here by TCL.
Perhaps this is not an ideal solution for us – I think we would be best suited to purchase raw bandwidth to distribute in a method we see fit. We have no intention of offering Dialup solutions and if I’m not mistaken, the DSL situation leaves much to be desired.
You would need to open a Wholesale Account first before any information can be supplied.
Fair enough. How do I go about that? Please email me the forms, as there appears to be a distinct lack of a registration link on the website. If I can’t open it in my own name (as I’m not a resident), let me know and I will forward the contact details of my legal representative in New Zealand.
1/Why do you want to start and operate an ISP here in NZ – do you intend to move back to NZ…?
As far as I’m concerned, the state of Broadband in New Zealand is rubbish compared to other countries – even Australia – the reason behind which I’m still trying to grasp. DSL is a mess, Cable is almost non-existent, the wireless offerings I hear are complete rubbish. So we want to come up with something better is possible.
The latter half of the question is both redundant and unnecessary, but to answer, no – for tax reasons. The fact that I own and operate 3 New Zealand companies and that I have capital to invest means that can hire qualified staff to manage the service for me should be of more importance.
2/We donot sell as a Telco – International capacity to ISP’s – and it’s a little strange for you to even request a STM-1 (155MB) to carry your international traffic….and a STM4 for domestc…???
I’m not sure why this is strange – I had outlined the possibility of purchasing either VISP services OR bandwidth alone. Considering that I currently purchase STM-levels of capacity from Bharti and Tata in India – at significant expense, might I add – I had assumed that ATM/STM levels were the units of measurement you were using also.
Perhaps I was hoping for international private circuits or something to that effect, but considering
Please clarify what it is you DO sell. The information on your wholesale site and in your product brochures led me to assume that the product being purchased would be capacity on a given circuit. If not, what exactly are your domestic and international products if not International and/or National capacity?
Your product brochures for domestic and international services claim to complement your VISP product, and the fact that it’s an access circuit delivered to any one of 12 PoPs suggests to me that it is what I think it is. Please correct me if I’m wrong and suggest an appropriate option.3/Do you actually understand what is required to start up a ISP
Not in New Zealand. I have not lived in the country for several years, so I do not know quite what has changed and how it works yet, hence my questions.
I’m well aware that it doesn’t involve simply setting up a company, putting up a website and proposing to offer some services and leaving it at that. There are rules and regulations to be followed, and I had hoped that you might point me in the direction of the appropriate regulating authority (equivalent to the TRAI and DOT here in India) so as I might be able to find and read more about said requirements – perhaps obtain a sample license agreement so as I can look at the legal aspects of being an ISP in New Zealand. If I can navigate contracts in Japanese, Finnish, Swedish, French and Hindi, I can surely do it in my native (yet deteriorated) English.
The aforementioned organizations stipulate exactly what it required to obtain licenses and rules for provisioning of all Telecommunications, Broadcasting and Internet services here, including details on everything from bank deposits (nearly NZ$1 million) to spectrum allocations.
4/Is this s joke….?
The Internet situation in New Zealand is the joke here.
I’m sure you get whack-jobs contacting you fairly often about such things, in which case may I suggest a boilerplate response, rather than asking such silly and offensive questions.
Even if this was a joke, this is certainly no way to deal with such inquiries, let alone a potential customer who is budgeting for millions of dollars in bandwidth a year (if I’m to judge by the amount I currently pay to Tata and Bharti).
With the attitude you appear to be displaying towards potential customers, perhaps Telstra may not be the ideal partner for us after all, and I have to wonder if this is common throughout all support staff. If so, perhaps this is why Telstra is still in second place. I had chosen to contact Telstra first over Telecom for the simple reason that I’ve never liked the latter.
I would advise against sabotaging the brand and image of the company you work for in the future, and please take more time and effort to compose your emails – your spelling and grammar make for painful reading.Regards
Mathew Carley
Hayai Broadband Pvt Ltd (India)
Carley Informatiq Ltd (New Zealand)Please note that all correspondence not including pricing or sensitive information may be made public.
Now, it’s still *just* an idea – for a New Zealand service, anyway – and I’m just trying to get some preliminary information from them – given their information brochures (available publicly at http://www.telstraclearwholesale.co.nz).
Could it have been the way I used English in the first email? Perhaps. Upon re-reading it, it did sound more like some annoying kid looking for info for a project or something. But still, that’s no excuse!
Fact is, I genuinely want to know how to start an ISP in New Zealand if I’m going to go ahead and execute the idea, and this guy just ridiculed the idea that anyone would even *want* to purchase wholesale capacity – or even the VISP service. Perish the thought that he might have just made a significant sale.
I do believe that the correct response should have included questions such as “Are you a Telstra Wholesale Customer? If not, I have included the necessary forms.” If he had done *any* research whatsoever, he would have found me in the NZ companies office as being a director now for 5 years (although the name of my company needs to be changed).
Even though I still prefer the idea of purchasing capacity from Telstra over Telecom, but perhaps I should contact Reach Global directly instead or whoever *does* sell capacity on the cables (as Telstra claims not to) and tell both companies to “go fly kites”. I certainly would ask for an alternative account manager.
Was I out of line? Was he? I certainly hope I was the more diplomatic one here.
We’ll see how this turns out.
