Vodafone today suggested a co-investment model for ultra-fast broadband in New Zealand, saying it was not a secret plan as suggested by some.
Its co-investment model involves multiple firms co-operating byinvesting in a FibreCo company, in which the Government could also invest.
"Competitors become investors and investors become competitors," Vodafone said.
Vodafone did not name potential shareholders but said they were likely to be existing operators, major infrastructure investors such as electricity lines companies, and the Government through its $1.5b broadband fund.
It has been speculated that Vodafone wanted itself, Chorus, a Telecom business, and TelstraClear to put their network assets into a new business that would be jointly owned by the three telcos and the Crown.
FibreCo would only sell to its shareholders and its shareholders would compete in downstream wholesale and retail markets. Non-investors would gain access to the network as wholesale customers of shareholders on competitive commercial terms.
FibreCo would treat its shareholder customers on an equal basis and be independent of them, operating on an arm's length basis.
By way of example three shareholders could invest $1.5 billion each and the Crown could invest $1.5b to provide $6b for a network.
Effectively the co-investment model is a "pay then take" arrangement for shareholders.
FibreCo would operate at a modest profit in the long-term and not overbuild existing assets. It would have the ability to buy rights over shareholders' existing assets.
Vodafone said it did make a submission to the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) on the Government's broadband plan.
Its "white paper" released today was fuller than the submission and it was sent to MED yesterday.
Vodafone argued that the existing regulatory model may not be appropriate for next generation access networks.
"The FibreCo concept will rely on a commitment from the Government not to intervene in the operation or FibreCo or its downstream markets," Vodafone said.
This agreement would be conditional on FibreCo meeting agreed criteria.
Vodafone said FibreCo was a big idea that required co-operation between the Government and private sector.
"This idea assumes industry wide agreement that we will not accept moving from a copper access monopoly to a fibre access monopoly," Vodafone said.
