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TelstraClear

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TelstraClear is New Zealand's second largest full-service telecommunications company, and provides its services through Internet service provider companys it owns, Clear.net and Paradise, as well as through TelstraClear itself.

TelstraClear is a voice and data company with around 400,000 customers in New Zealand. The company provides residential line rental services, internet services, cable TV/cable modem and also mobile telephone services to 70,000 subscribers on its network in three areas (Wellington, Christchurch and Kapiti).

In 2004 TelstraClear began offering residential line HomePlan services including broadband outside those areas where it has its own network, reselling a wholesale product from Telecom New Zealand.

Contents

Background

Telstra New Zealand was set up in 1996 by Telstra as part of Telstra's international expansion. Competing with the incumbent Telecom New Zealand, Saturn Communications and Clear Communications Telstra New Zealand initially focused on providing services to top tier international organisations who were already Telstra clients in Australia in the same way that Telecom New Zealand Australia, an Australian subsidiary of Telecom New Zealand currently does for New Zealand based customers in Australia.

Telstra slowly expanded its operations in the business market bundling Telecom New Zealand services distributed as a reseller with its own network services. It installed switches in Auckland and Wellington to manage incoming and outgoing international traffic and maintained an interconnect agreement with Telecom New Zealand and is likely to have had others with companies such as Clear Communications.

In 2000 Saturn Communications was sold by its parent company, Austar United Communications, to a new joint venture with Telstra entity that became known as TelstraSaturn.

TelstraClear was then created by the merger of Telstra's operations in New Zealand TelstraSaturn Limited and Clear Communications in 2001. Austar United Communications held an initial investment of 42% in TelstraClear before selling it back to Telstra.

TelstraClear currently does not operate their own mobile network, they used to use Vodafone's network for cellphones, In 2007 this agreement came up for renewal, TelstraClear decided not to renew the arrangement, 30,000 TelstraClear mobile customers were then returned to Vodafone. TelstraClear subsequently signed a wholesale mobile deal to access the Telecom New Zealand CDMA network and currently Telstraclear is rolling out the new mobile offering in New Zealand.

Paradise

Paradise.net is a New Zealand internet service provider offering dial-up and high-speed internet. It is the second largest ISP in New Zealand (combined with TelstraClear's Clear.Net), and a competitor of Xtra (ISP), an ISP owned by Telecom New Zealand.

Paradise was founded in Wellington in November 1997 by businessman Shane Cole. Initially, dialup service was offered in Wellington only. Paradise quickly became a leading dialup ISP in the Wellington region. Service was expanded to Auckland and Christchurch in 1998. A reselling agreement was also entered with Telstra Saturn in 1998, which meant that customers who subscribed to Telstra Saturn's cable telephone and cable TV service could also get Paradise included on their phone bill (either dialup or cable modem service).

Nationwide dialup access was provided in 1999, and Paradise was one of the first ADSL providers in 1999, after Telecom Xtra. The company experienced rapid expansion at this point, and staff numbers increased by a large proportion. The helpdesk began 24 hour service in April 2000.

In late 2000, the company was sold to Telstra Saturn, formed after the merger of Telstra NZ and Saturn Communications. Most of the staff were retained, and were relocated to Telstra Saturn's new purpose built call centre located near the Westpac Stadium, on Wellington's waterfront. The Paradise brand was absorbed and retained into the new company, and stayed after the purchase of Telstra Saturn by Clear Communications in December 2001, forming TelstraClear.

TelstraClear decided to merge the Paradise helpdesk with its existing Clear.Net helpdesk in Auckland. Most of the Paradise helpdesk staff were made redundant. Some opted for relocation, and the helpdesk was moved from Wellington to Auckland in early 2002. Some servers remained in Wellington however.

Today, Paradise remains a brand inside the TelstraClear umbrella, and has surpassed the 100 000 subscriber mark. Only a handful of the existing staff remain, most of them working in the networks side of the company.

Subscription Television (InHomeTV)

TelstraClear operates the Hybrid Fibre Cable pay television network developed by Saturn Communications in Wellington, Kapiti and Christchurch, prior to the sale to Telstra. The network infrastructure includes twisted pair cabling used for residential and business local telephone service.

Programming is now managed by Sky Communications following an agreement that saw TelstraClear move out of the role of sourcing developing a competitive pay television offering. The agreement allowed TelstraClear to distribute and bill for services provided by Sky on its own Direct to Home satellite service and TelstraSaturn's cable network.

InHomeTV is available on TelstraClear's Cable network in Wellington, Christchurch and Kapiti. The service is not available by itself, it must be bundled with TelstraClear's telephony service.

In 2005, the network was upgraded to a fully digital transmission network.

Channel Lineup

This lists all current digital and analogue channels. Channel numbers were changed March, 2007, to coincide with Sky channel number changes. Channels with WS after them are able to show widescreen programs, when available.

Number Channel
1 TV ONE - WS
2 TV2 - WS
3 TV3 - WS
4 Prime
5 SKY 1 (Will be known as the BOX as of 1st February 2008)
6 UK.TV - WS
7 Vibe (from late November 2007)
8 The Living Channel
9 Food Television
11 E!
15 Visitor TV (Christchurch only) (Digital only)
16 CTV (Christchurch only)
17 Discovery Travel & Living
18 TBN
19 Māori Television
20 SKY Movies - WS
21 SKY Movies 2 - WS (from late November 2007)
22 SKY Movies Greats - WS
23 MGM - WS
24 TCM
25 Rialto Channel - WS
28 SKY Box Office Previews
30 SKY Sport 1 - WS
31 SKY Sport 2
32 SKY Sport 3
33 SKY Sport Highlights (from late November 2007)
34 ESPN
35 TAB Trackside
36 The Rugby Channel - WS
40 Disney Channel
41 Nickelodeon
42 Cartoon Network
44 SKY Box Office Pay per view guide (Analogue only, Digital customers can use the interactive PPV guide)
45-59 SKY Box Office Movies (Analogue only, Digital customers use channels 201-227)
45 Playhouse Disney Channel (Digital only)
60 MTV New Zealand (Digital only)
62 Juice TV
63 J2
64 C4
65 Alt TV (from mid February 2008)
70 Discovery Channel - WS
71 Crime & Investigation Network (from late November 2007)
72 National Geographic Channel
73 The History Channel
74 Documentary Channel (Digital only)
75 Animal Planet
79 The Arts Channel (Digital only)
89 Triangle Stratos (from mid February 2008)
90 Sky News NZ
91 CNN
92 Fox News (from late November 2007)
93 BBC World
94 Parliament TV (New Zealand) (from late November 2007)
95 Deutsche Welle (Digital only)
96 Bloomberg TV
97 Saturn Scan
98 Saturn Weather
99 Saturn Choose (Analogue only, Digital customers can use the interactive EPG guide)
100 CNBC New Zealand (from late November 2007)
107 Parliament TV (New Zealand) (from late November 2007)
110 Cue (from late November 2007)
111 Shine TV (from late November 2007)
201-227 SKY Box Office Movies (Digital only, Analogue customers use channels 45-59)
300 KTV1 (Digital only)
301 KTV2 (from late November 2007)
302 JTV (Digital only)
303 CTV1 (Digital only)
304 CTV2 (Digital only)
305 CTV3 (Digital only)
306 CTV4 (Digital only)
307 CTV5 (Digital only)
308 CTV6 (from late November 2007)
309 CTV7 (from late November 2007)
310 CCTV-9 (from late November 2007)
315 STAR Plus Hindi (from late November 2007)
Radio Stations

All radio stations are only available on digital.

  • Channel 400 SKY Digital Music NZ Chart
  • Channel 401 SKY Digital Music Pop
  • Channel 402 SKY Digital Music Smooth
  • Channel 403 SKY Digital Music Grooves
  • Channel 404 SKY Digital Music Jazz
  • Channel 405 SKY Digital Music House
  • Channel 406 SKY Digital Music 50s & 60s
  • Channel 407 SKY Digital Music Party
  • Channel 408 SKY Digital Music Rock
  • Channel 409 SKY Digital Music Country
  • Channel 410 SKY Digital Music Classical
  • Channel 411 SKY Digital Music Kids
  • Channel 412 SKY Digital Music Blues
  • Channel 413 SKY Digital Music Theme
  • Channel 500 Kiwi FM
  • Channel 501 Radio New Zealand National
  • Channel 502 Radio New Zealand Concert FM
  • Channel 503 Nui FM
  • Channel 504 George FM
  • Channel 510 Core (radio station)
  • Channel 600 Tahu FM
  • Channel 601 Niu FM
  • Channel 666 Classic Hits FM
  • Channel 667 ZM (New Zealand)
  • Channel 668 Coast (New Zealand radio)
  • Channel 669 Flava
  • Channel 670 Radio Sport
  • Channel 671 Radio Hauraki
  • Channel 672 Newstalk ZB
  • Channel 673 Easy Mix
Interactive Services

All interactive services are only available on digital.

  • Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) - Television listing information.
  • Pay Per View (PPV) Guide - Sky Box Office listing information.


TechTV was available up until May 2004, when current owner Comcast halted international broadcasts. (Source TelstraClear website)

Chilli (an adult channel) was also available until 2004 when CEO Alan Freeth discontinued the product on moral grounds. (Source TelstraClear staff memo)

The following analogue channels are unofficially available without needing decryption:

  • TV One
  • TV2
  • TV3
  • Prime
  • Māori Television
  • Sky Box Office Previews
  • Sky Box Office Pay per view guide
  • C4
  • TBN
  • Saturn Scan
  • Saturn Weather
  • Saturn Choose
  • The Radio Network

POTS Telephone Services

Residential telephone service is available in two ways:

1.Through TelstraClear directly within the areas covered by its own network, that is parts of Kapiti, Wellington and Christchurch. 2.Through a resale agreement with Telecom New Zealand for the rest of the country.

Business telephone services are offered across the country, either on Telstraclears own network in Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Napier, Palmerston North, Whanganui, Kapiti, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. HomePlan residential services are offered in the rest of the country via a resale agreement with Telecom.

Internet

TelstraClear owns two ISP's, Paradise.net and Clear Net. Both offer nationwide dialup and ADSL service, and cable modem internet access within TelstraClear's own (built) network. Capable of speeds up to 10mb/s this makes it New Zealands fastest Home broadband offering. Outside of this network, broadband connections are resold over Telecom's ADSL lines.

Services provided by TelstraClear

Plans available



Contacting TelstraClear

You can find contact details by visiting the Contacting TelstraClear page.

External links

Retrieved from "http://www.nzconnection.net/TelstraClear"
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