Telecom 'knew of XT interference' The accelerated launch timetable of its new mobile network was a Telecom "gamble" to strong-arm its way into an advantageous position, according to Vodafone.
Both of New Zealand's major telecommunications companies are in the Auckland High Court today in a stoush over the launch of Telecom's new XT mobile phone network which Vodafone is seeking an injunction to stop.
Vodafone, represented by Julian Miles QC and Allison Ferguson of Wilson Harle, told Justice Vernon that Telecom knew "rogue signals" from its new network were "inevitable" and knew they interfered with Vodafone's network.
Miles said bringing forward the launch date from June 2009 to next week, along with a concerted advertising campaign, was a deliberate attempt to capitalise on this.
"They can claim to be a superior service at the same time they are degrading their principle competitors' [Vodafone] network," said Miles.
Further, Miles told the court that since the XT network is currently only operating at 20 percent power, when it officially launches and ramps up to full power, the interference will become much worse.
Vodafone is claiming this would be dangerous because its network carries the emergency services and district health boards communications.
Miles said Vodafone was willing to carry customers already on Telecom's XT network for the duration of the injunction - a statement that drew chuckles from the public gallery.
Much of the initial proceedings were spent discussing the highly technical nature of the issue.
The Radio Communications Act splits the radio spectrum - on which telecommunications services are broadcast - into parcels and gives the rights to those frequencies to companies like Vodafone and Telecom.
Telecom's new network occupies a neighbouring frequency of Vodafone's existing network, and Vodafone is claiming Telecom's transmissions are leaking into their network, causing interference.
Vodafone claims it discovered interference to its networks in January this year, and since then has suffered a large increase in customers cancelling their connections.
It wants an injunction to stop Telecom from transmitting on its new network - essentially switching it off - as well as damages, interest and costs. The injunction would keep Telecom's network offline until it could demonstrate to Vodafone's satisfaction that the interference issues had been fixed.
Telecom has agreed to fit filters to its own cellsites if these are required to reduce interference. But there appears to be no agreement as to who would bear the cost.
Telecom group general counsel Tristan Gilbertson claimed in an email to his Vodafone counterpart last Friday that engineers from both companies had agreed the issue could not be resolved until Vodafone rectified its own head amplifiers, which are attached to cellphone towers to pick up signals from phones.
Chief executive Paul Reynolds also said on Friday that Telecom would vigorously resist the request for an injunction, querying the timing of the court action, which came 13 days before the launch of XT.
Telecom released a Ministry of Economic Development review into the matter concluding Telecom was not violating the Radio Communications Act because it did not specifically require telcos to ensure all of their transmissions remained strictly within their allotted frequencies. However, it noted alternative interpretations of the act were possible.
The case continues.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/telecoms-it-media/2388714/Telecom-knew-of-XT-interference-Vodafone
