Orcon Limited

Last updated

Orcon Limited
Orcon
Type Subsidiary
Industry Telecommunications
Founded1996
FounderSeeby Woodhouse
Headquarters Auckland, New Zealand
Area served
New Zealand
Key people
Mark Callander, Group CEO
ProductsTelephony, Internet connectivity, hosting
Number of employees
300+
Parent 2degrees
Website www.orcon.net.nz

Orcon Limited (trading as Orcon) is a New Zealand telecommunications company. It is New Zealand's fourth largest Internet service provider (ISP). In 2013 it had a 5% share of the fixed line market. [1]

Contents

History

Seeby Woodhouse founded Orcon by starting a small business (Orcon Group Limited) while at university in 1994. [2] The startup provided computer advice and support, as well as selling early-model cell-phones and accessories. Demand led the business to expand its scope to include PC upgrade and repair services. Orcon remained focused on the local market on Auckland's North Shore. By 1996 the business had expanded its range of products and sphere of operations. It began distributing computer accessories and supplies to small-business owners and to home users throughout the Auckland region and to other parts of New Zealand as required.

In 1997 Orcon Group commenced as an ISP with three dial-in 33.6k modems. Through the start-up phase it focused on the no-frills end of the market, aiming at skilled and technically minded customers, with pricing at half the price of the cheapest competition. In 2002 Orcon became a major ISP in the residential market; it launched a new web portal and undertook marketing initiatives to grow the customer base that positive word-of-mouth had established.

On 12 June 2007 Kordia, a state-owned telecommunications company, purchased Orcon for NZ$24.3m, effectively nationalizing it. Seeby Woodhouse, an 80% stakeholder, made $19.44 million from the deal, while business-partner Mark Mackay pocketed $4.86 million.[ citation needed ]As of 2014 Orcon's main competitors included Telecom and Vodafone.

In June 2014 the company was bought by CallPlus (later Vocus Group). [3] Vocus Group merged with 2degrees in June 2022. [4]

Local-loop unbundling

Orcon issued a press release on 9 August 2007 stating that they had become the "first 100% kiwi owned telecommunications provider" to install equipment in the first unbundled Telecom exchange at Ponsonby. On 30 August 2007, Orcon released an additional press release to announce that they had successfully connected a trial customer at ADSL2+ speeds to their DSLAM via local-loop unbundling (LLU). In March 2008 Orcon launched their ADSL2+ service in parts of Auckland, becoming the first ISP to commercially provide ADSL2+ in New Zealand. [5] [6]

Orcon has been a key participant in recent years in New Zealand's LLU process, which is a rapid u-turn from past public statements by former chief executive Seeby Woodhouse. A Computerworld article from 2005 describing a joint letter by several ISPs to the Commerce Commission quotes Woodhouse as saying he did not sign the letter because he did not agree with the request for local loop unbundling. With LLU, Woodhouse says, only the bigger players such as ihug (now Vodafone), TelstraClear (also now Vodafone), [7] and possibly CallPlus (Slingshot) could afford to put their own equipment into the exchanges.

Ultra-Fast Broadband

Orcon was the first retailer to begin providing fibre as part of the Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) scheme. [8] In September 2011, Orcon announced that a group of Northland schools were set up for service, with Orcon delivering telecommunications over fibre in partnership with Orewa-based internet service provider Watchdog Corporation Ltd. [9]

Genius Go

In June 2013, Orcon launched Genius Go, a smartphone app that allows customers to make local 'landline' calls and receive calls to their home phone line via their smartphone, wherever they are in the world. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

Local loop unbundling is the regulatory process of allowing multiple telecommunications operators to use connections from the telephone exchange to the customer's premises. The physical wire connection between the local exchange and the customer is known as a "local loop", and is owned by the incumbent local exchange carrier. To increase competition, other providers are granted unbundled access.

ihug

ihug was New Zealand's third largest ISP, before it was bought, then absorbed by Vodafone New Zealand. According to 2005 estimates, it had over 100,000 internet and phone subscribers. Before 2000 ihug was New Zealand's largest ISP but as other ISPs began offering flat rate services, some customers opted to transfer to those providers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spark New Zealand</span> Telecommunications company in New Zealand

Spark New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications and digital services company providing fixed-line telephone services, mobile phone services, broadband, and digital technology services including cloud, security, digital transformation and managed services. Its customers range from consumers to small - medium business, government agencies and large enterprise clients. It was formerly known as Telecom New Zealand until it was rebranded to Spark in 2014. It has operated as a publicly traded company since 1990. Spark's mobile network reaches 98% of New Zealand, with over 2.5 million mobile connections and 704,000 broadband connections

iiNet Australian internet service provider

iiNet Limited is an Australian internet service provider that sells NBN plans and services on its ULTRA Broadband Cable, FTTB and VDSL2 networks. It was acquired by TPG Telecom in July 2020.

A naked DSL, also known as standalone or dry loop DSL, is a digital subscriber line (DSL) without a PSTN service — or the associated dial tone. In other words, only a standalone DSL Internet service is provided on the local loop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vodafone New Zealand</span> Telecommunications company in New Zealand

One New Zealand Group Limited formally Vodafone New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications company. It was a subsidiary of the London-listed company Vodafone Plc until 31 July 2019, when its sale to a consortium comprising Infratil Limited and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. was settled. Vodafone is based in Auckland and was formed in 1998, after Vodafone purchased BellSouth's New Zealand operations. The company employs over 3,000 people and has operations nationwide, with its main offices based in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The company is part of New Zealand Telecommunications Forum. Vodafone is the largest wireless carrier in New Zealand, with 2.5 million subscribers as of July 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TelstraClear</span> New Zealand telecommunications company

TelstraClear Limited was New Zealand's second-largest telecommunications company before being acquired by Vodafone New Zealand in October 2012, previous to which it was a subsidiary of Australian company Telstra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kordia</span>

Kordia is a New Zealand government-owned company, offering a range of technology services and solutions to businesses. It provides a range of services, including mission-critical connectivity, cloud and cyber security services, as well as managed IT, field services, broadcast and safety of life communications.

The Internet Service Providers Association of New Zealand (ISPANZ) is an organisation formed by Internet service providers (ISPs) in New Zealand. Its members include most New Zealand ISPs with the exceptions of Spark, Telstra and Vodafone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eftel</span> Telecommunications company in Australia

Eftel Limited is an internet service provider and telecommunications provider in Australia, with approximately 120,000 active accounts. It was established in 1999. Eftel offers a range of services including: DSL and dial-up Internet access, web hosting and telephony services - to the retail, corporate and wholesale telecommunications markets.

Sky Broadband is a broadband service offered by Sky UK in the United Kingdom. With the introduction of Sky Fibre, Sky Broadband now refers to ADSL broadband products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neuf Cegetel</span>

Neuf Cegetel was a French wireline telecommunications service provider and a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). It offered various telecommunications services to consumers, enterprises and wholesale customers, ranking second in the country in annual revenues. It was legally established in 2005 following the completion of the merger between Neuf Telecom and Cegetel. As of June 2008, the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of SFR, and the brand disappeared commercially.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slingshot (ISP)</span> New Zealand telecommunications company

Slingshot is the fourth largest telecommunications company in New Zealand. It has an approximately 16% market share of the New Zealand fixed telephone landline and residential broadband market. There are 300+ employees who all work in Auckland CBD.

Internet in Australia first became available on a permanent basis to universities in Australia in May 1989, via AARNet. Pegasus Networks was Australia's first public Internet provider in June 1989. The first commercial dial-up Internet Service Provider (ISP) appeared in capital cities soon after, and by the mid-1990s almost the entire country had a range of choices of dial-up ISPs. Today, Internet access is available through a range of technologies, i.e. hybrid fibre coaxial cable, digital subscriber line (DSL), Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and satellite Internet. In July 2009, the federal government, in partnership with the industrial sector, began rolling out a nationwide fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) and improved fixed wireless and satellite access through the National Broadband Network. Subsequently, the roll out was downgraded to a Multi-Technology Mix on the promise of it being less expensive and with earlier completion. In October 2020, the federal government announced an upgrade by 2023 of NBN fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) services to FTTP for 2 million households, at a cost of A$3.5 billion.

Internet access is widely available in New Zealand, with 94% of New Zealanders having access to the internet as of January 2021. It first became accessible to university students in the country in 1989. As of June 2018, there are 1,867,000 broadband connections, of which 1,524,000 are residential and 361,000 are business or government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vocus Group</span> Australian telecommunications company

Vocus Group Limited, formerly known as Vocus Communications, is an international telecommunications company headquartered in North Sydney, Australia. Founded by James Spenceley as a wholesale, business, government and consumer telecommunications provider, Vocus owns and manages Australia's second largest intercapital fibre network. Vocus provides retail, wholesale and corporate telecommunications services across Australia and New Zealand. Vocus offers data network services such as Internet, dark fibre, IP WAN, unified communications and telephony and cloud services to mid, large and corporate businesses direct and also acts as a wholesaler. The company owns and operates 18 data centres across Australia and New Zealand and has an onshore network operations centre run by the engineers who built the network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hellas Online</span>

Hellas Online was one of the leading Greek fixed-line telephony service providers based in Athens. Founded in 1993, Hellas Online (hol) was one of the first Internet service providers in Greece offering public dial-up Internet access. It evolved from an ISP to a fixed-line telecommunications services provider offering a broad range of retail, business and wholesale services. Since 2006 it became a member of the Intracom Holdings group. Before its dissolution, following its merger, with Vodafone in 2014, it had 531,563 LLU subscribers.

CallPlus was a telecommunications company providing phone, calling, internet, mobile and advanced connectivity services to New Zealand businesses. Since 2016, CallPlus has been part of the Vocus Group, which is the third-largest telecommunications company in New Zealand, and fourth-largest in Australia.

ClubTelco is an Australian Telecommunications and Internet Service Provider founded in 2010, that provides telecommunications services to consumers and small businesses around Australia. Competing with the likes of Telstra, Optus, iiNet, Dodo and Internode. ClubTelco's is owned by Vocus Group, a publicly listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange. It serves over 120,000 customers.

Chorus is a provider of telecommunications infrastructure throughout New Zealand. It is listed on the NZX stock exchange and is in the NZX 50 Index. It is the owner of the majority of telephone lines and exchange equipment in New Zealand. It is responsible for building approximately 70% of the new fibre optic Ultra-Fast Broadband network, and received a government subsidy of $929 million to do it.

References

  1. Putt, Sarah (15 April 2013). "Kordia sells Orcon to private investors". Computerworld. Archived from the original on 17 April 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  2. "From start-up to SOE". Orcon. 11 June 2007. Retrieved 27 February 2013. While still at university in 1994, Seeby started Orcon Group Limited [...]
  3. Pullar-Strecker, Tom (20 June 2014). "CallPlus expands after Orcon buy". Stuff. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  4. "Commission grants clearance for Vocus/2degrees merger". Commerce Commission. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  5. "Orcon's "3x faster" broadband goes live". Newstalk ZB. 13 March 2008. Retrieved 16 March 2008.
  6. "Orcon launches the first unbundled service in New Zealand!" (Press release). Scoop. 13 March 2008. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
  7. "Vodafone acquires TelstraClear". Vodafone.
  8. "Orcon first retailer on UFB network". Stuff.co.nz. 6 September 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  9. "Whangarei schools first to plug into UFB". Idealog. 6 September 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2012.
  10. "App allows landline calls using mobile". TV3. 19 June 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.